Happy Rainbow Muffin Land

Sim Scenes: Cheating - Bored - Fashion

2009-12-20T06:12:34Z

My entry for this week's sim_scenes. Wow, these prompt words were a bit of a challenge. And making my vision happen in less than 10 images was even more so! I hope it makes sense.

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I tried to do this using all Simlish words, then realized after the fact the CC fashion magazine is in English. Doh. Oh well. Anyway, it's not as obvious without English I guess... that last photo is supposed to be like a flashback. :P That's hot sauce, not poison. lol

It takes a Village to raise a Sim Scene

2009-12-13T20:34:52Z

So, my latest Sim Scenes gave me quite the education in working with/on/around Sim water. Which turns out to be sometimes/never/carefully. I had a distinct vision in mind for this that involved a ship out on the open ocean, and it turns out that's not possible in the Sim universe. Not without some creative camera angles and a bit of photoshopping. And now for a wee behind-the-scenes to totally blow away the illusion I so painstakingly created...

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The Village

I spent 7 hours one day building this. My original plan was to make several neighborhood lots filled with buildings and streets so I could butt them up next to each other and create the illusion that the streets and houses were more than one lot deep...

But then I found a neighborhood decoration that saved me a TON of work! I was so pleased the buildings in the little town are the proper scale and that it matched the town I had already built as well as it did. Thank you person who made that!

So why did I make a fake harbor instead of building this on a beach lot? Well, I needed the water to come right up to the seawall and the dock, and pond water wasn't working so that's actually painted ground. Aaaand...

I needed the extra space the road provides for placing the ship. This also presented a problem, though.... there's a road running through my ocean.

Here's the opening shot of my Sim Scenes before I edited out the land. I needed the ship to look like it's going out to sea, not pulling out of the driveway. >_<

I missed the actual delivery, but I thought it was cute (and appropriate?) that the papergirl walked all the way through town just to deliver the paper at the chapel.
Yeah, I don't know why I put so much detail in that spot (or all the spots!) when you don't even see that from a distance. This village was literally just supposed to be a backdrop for a photo.

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The Ship

The captain's quarters looks like a house built by a blind man. The hodge-podge of windows actually serves a purpose. I've discovered different windows seem to cast different levels of light, and I love the "white" light that comes from the windows in the daytime for lighting purposes. No yellow tint like some lamps cast.

Okay, the actual ship is probably my most favorite CC thing ever. It's a beautifully "restored" version of the pirate ship; no broken masts. The one I used is actually just a decoration, because the pirate ship itself gave me some unique problems. Like, I couldn't move the Sims around on it's surface because they always snapped into the crow's nest when I tried. Not sure if that's normal, but it was happening to me. Also, the pirate ship can't be placed at a 45 degree angle! Which I needed. Since the ship I used was basically just a non-solid illusion, I had to get Sims onto the deck somehow...

The shiftable OMSPs will only go but so high off the ground, so I needed to give them a second story to rest on to get them up to deck height....

This way I was able to place the Sims about where I needed them, then move the ship into place....

And because my platform could only be placed but so close to the water, I had to use water colored ground cover just in case the sand might show in my photo. Anyway, at this point I pose the Sims how I want them, and take the photo... but I need one more element in this shot...

The island in the distance they are sailing towards. This was taken at the native's lot I built, from as far offshore as the camera would go. When I splice the images together this is what I get:

And that's it. Not very exciting - kinda like looking at the inside of a car engine and someone telling you what part does what. lol

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Rod Humble: performing miracles every day.

Sim Scenes: Getting Lost - Awe - Knowledge

2009-12-13T05:26:38Z

This week's sim_scenes took me forever. Or... 4 days. That's like forever in Sim time though! Mostly because of the massive CC search I had to do to find all the right bits of stuff I needed. And the village I built... and some photo shopping. Lots of that actually. D:

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Well, he was close.

Sim Scenes: Autumn - Disgust - Cooking

2009-12-03T22:33:14Z

I'm back with another fun-time sim_scenes project! Man, I am so rusty at this. BUT, it got my game open for the first time in many weeks. Huzzah! This time the prompt words are Autumn, Disgust, and Cooking... done in 10 photos or less.

My cousin Autumn is a very bad cook. D:

Once more, with feeling...

2009-11-21T21:04:20Z

Well, here I am posting from my 3rd computer in as many months. But I think it's all sorted out now and I can finally stop living on a USB memory stick and get back to my old internet existence. WHEW. I know I keep coming around and saying "OH HAI, I R BACK" only to disappear again. Heh, so you shouldn't be too shocked if this is another false start. *roll eyes* I'm hoping it's not. Oh gosh, please just let this be permanent this time!

Anyway, I (once again) got TS2 installed and did a quick look-see last night to make sure things were normal.

For some reason I always use the Pleasant's household as the measuring stick for "normal"...

Everything looks normal here... Well, except for the fact I don't have any CC installed yet, and I need to adjust my picture-taking options.

In other news... Oh, a while back I decided to see what all this fuss over Twitter is about. So I got an account. As it turns out, micro-blogging is about the only kind of blogging I seem to have time for these days. o_O Well, time and brain cells. Not necessarily in that order.

[insert apologies for not commenting on stuff] It doesn't mean I don't love you! It just means I'm [insert lame excuse]. o___o; I've got some out-of-town traveling to do this next week, but hopefully after that I'll be here for real. *fingers crossed*

BOO =^-^=

2009-10-31T20:18:53Z

I'm still clinging to the precipice, and life it still stomping on my fingers. At this point I'm seriously considering living out the rest of my life as a hermit. The only thing holding me back is the cost of having high speed internet installed in a cave.

Anyway! Happy Halloween! I wanted to make something Sims-related for Halloween this year, but I'm having issues with my graphics and issues with my own lack of creativity at the moment. SO, in lieu of something fresh and new, I'm giving you all some stale old thing I made ages ago. (in fact most of you have probably already seen this) At that time I had been playing Sims2 for less than a month, I had no CC, and the only cheat code I knew was move_objects. But I managed to stage a story, dangit! Or, in this case, a poem I wrote based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". Behold the silliness and bad photoshopping! :D

Trick or Treat, y'all.

It's days like this...

2009-10-14T04:08:40Z

The day started off innocently enough.
This morning I got a phone call from my husband telling me he was out sick from work for a second day in a row. I told him if he has swine flu he's not allowed to come home next month. He agreed. We hung up and I got online, answered some emails, then I made some lunch and came back to the computer to discover that our internet access was down. That's nothing shocking or new; it does that sometimes when the cable company is upgrading the system or doing maintenance (or when it's dove season and some hunter/bone-head fires a shotgun at a dove sitting on a telephone wire, severing the lines and causing internet and cable outages all over the county). That put a temporary hold on being able to do anything online, so I decided to pop into the Sims2 and maybe play my WYD house through a few days, and maybe get a baby or two born.

Hah. That's when SecuRom decided to start bullying me around. I've been having spotty issues with "authentication" errors and "missing driver" notices with half the programs I've installed since getting this new computer. Something about the Vista 64-bit version of Windows being way different (as in, alien-vs-predator different) from the 32-bit version I had on my old computer when I never had any of these issues. Anyway, fortunately I know how to fix the "you aren't using the original disc you dirty dirty pirate" message SecuRom was taunting me with, despite the fact I most certainly am using the original disc. It's really stupid because it's simply a matter of un-ticking then re-ticking an option that is already ticked (dur). After many frustrating minutes with that (because, for gosh sakes, it never takes the first time you do it), I finally get into the game. THAT'S when I remembered I had meant to get something else off my old harddrive before playing again: a vital bit of CC I missed the first time. *face palm* So, I shut down the game and turned off the computer.

Unplug it, open the case, disconnect the DVD ROM, hook up the old hard drive, replug, reboot.
I got that bit of CC moved into my Sims downloads quick enough. But while looking at my old folders, I remembered I have to pay the insurance bill, but I need the original email the online bill-pay site sent me forever ago. Because I can't seem to recall my user ID for logging onto that site (new computer, missing cookies, inferior human memory, you know how it goes). But, annoyingly, emails and internet history are files I can't readily access without going through a lot of headache-inducing hoopla I would only have to undo again just for one stupid email I might have already deleted anyway. No problem, the internet was back at this point and I was able to get on the insurance company's website and get the phone number I had to call to get my "lost" account information. Seriously, calling them is the only option they give because they won't email my user ID to me again. (Fort Knox much? Sheesh)

So I called the customer service number.
Like most customer service situations, getting a real person on the line requires you to complete an endurance test. This involves many levels of automated menus you have to navigate by pressing a number on your phone that corresponds to the menu option which best describes your dilemma. I managed to get through all 5 or 6 menus (after an initial false start when I accidentally chose the Spanish-speaking option), and was finally told my issue could not be resolved by the automated service (something I already knew!) and at this point I had to press "zero" to speak to a customer service representative. I pressed "zero" and put the phone up to my ear, and I hear... a dial tone. It had frickin disconnected me! After leaving teeth marks in my cell phone's casing, I proceeded to calmly go through the endurance test once more, and was finally rewarded with on-hold music and some woman's placating voice reassuring me that my call is very important to them and it might be recorded. o_O What, so they can play it back on the anniversary of my call and get all misty with sentimental memories because of how very special my call was to them?

Now is when things get really interesting, because apparently speaking to a Real Person isn't a fool-proof method of resolving issues.

See, in my house I'm the one who is in charge of the finances. I pay the bills, I set up the online accounts, I order the checks used to pay bills I can't pay online, I sign the checks, it's my email address every creditor knows, my cell phone number they have, and I'm the one the bank deals with when there is a rare kink in my clock-work system of bill-paying. So, when I finally reach the ears of a real person (and I'm surprised to get someone with an American accent on the line) I was prepared to offer them any and all information they required in order to give me the information I needed in return. Keep in mind, all I want to know is the user ID allowing me to log on and pay the bill. So, when prompted, I gave this woman our phone numbers, home address, social security numbers, all the insurance policy numbers, the email address associated with the account (mine), and was able to answer every one of the online "security" questions (because, after all, I was the one who set up the flippin online bill-pay account in the first place). After going through all of this, the woman asked my name. I told her, and she said,
"That's not the name on the account."
o__O "Right, that's my husband; the insurance office left my name off the payment plan because of spacing or something. I don't know why. But my name is on every one of the policies. I'm sure you can see that."
"Yes, I see. Is your husband there?"
"No, he's in Texas, working. I'm in Indiana trying to pay the bills."
"Well, we need his permission before we can give you information about this online account."
O__O "Excuse me? I'm the one who set up this online account. He doesn't even know the password! I'm trying to PAY the bill; not steal my own worthless identity."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't divulge any private information to you without his consent."
"But I just told you all the private information. The only thing I can't remember is the stupid user ID to log on and pay the bill."
"You can contact your local insurance office and set up an account in your name with a new user ID."
"Ohmygawd. Look, can I at least pay the bill over the phone while you're sitting there looking at my policy information?"
"That's handled through collections; you'll need to call one-eight-hundred-seve -"
"HOLY CRAP FINE" and I snapped my cell phone closed so hard I think it might have damaged the LCD display.

I dialed my husband's cell phone, "Hello, darling."
He said, "Oh dear lord." Because he knows when I address him like that, I'm super steamed about something. I explained the situation, using as few explatives as humanly possible, then asked him to please (with painfully gritted teeth) call those drooling baboons and get our arffing online account information so I can pay the effing bill. So he put me on speaker phone, and used his work cell phone to dial up the customer service number. He had to have me there on the speaker because he doesn't know anything about this account. He gets someone on the phone and I start relaying the information to him, and it's obvious he's being fed the information, but they gave him the user ID without batting an eye or requiring him to jump through even half the hoops they set on fire for me. (The hell?!) Hubby asked me, "Is that all?" I said, "No, tell them some woman is about to hack into your account and PAY THE BILL because that's the only thing you can do on that stupid website!" He didn't relay that, but I yelled it really loud and I'm sure the customer service guy heard it. Hehe. Go me. ;D I hope they were recording it.

Hubby then spelled out the user ID for me (finally!) as I wrote it down on a Post-It note. I reached up to stick it above my computer moniter, when I noticed the Post-It note I stuck up there months ago... with that exact same user ID written on it.

*drool*

Who's Your Daddy? Part 10 - Not a recap!

2009-10-12T06:35:26Z

OMG I'm back! I have the bulk of my Sim stuff transfered to the new computer, and Real Life seems to finally be on hiatus, so I'll be online again. Since it's been a few months, I first thought that I should do a recap of all the kids born into this challenge so far, but instead decided to just link back to the previous updates. Keeping up isn't very hard; all the babies are named alphabetically after flowering plants and trees. By the way, this is the Who's Your Daddy? Challenge (link to rules on Boolprop.com) in which I'm attempting to play one Sim woman through 26 pregnancies, by 26 different fathers. Here's what's been done so far:

Part 1: College | Part 2: A - C | Part 3: D - E | Part 4: F - H
Part 5: I - J | Part 6: K - M | Part 7: M - N | Part 8: Recap
Part 9: O - P

And finally at LONG last...
Part 10: LOTS of birthdays

Here we are, back in "beautiful" Blossoming Acres. That house on the top of the hill is my simself's place. I had considered building myself a huge, imposing castle, but I figured the water tower was scary enough. The Beckett's house (where the challenge family lives) is in the center on the left of the screen.   That's where all the action takes place. The other houses and apartments are occupied by the grown up kids consisting of letters A thru L at this point. Barely visible behind the beach condos, across the street....

Is Milkweed Cemetery. It exists because....

The challenge mother has a serious "milk" addiction. But whatever it takes to get her through 26 pregnancies! And I'm glad to see she uses home grown; we need to put the milk cartel out of a job.

So let's do the usual "who lives here now" recap:
When we last left, letter L had just moved out....

Making letter M, Mulberry the oldest child in the house. His father was Brigit's Matchmaker Date, Cooper Seifert. Mulberry is followed closely by Nigella, whose father is the RepoMan I nicknamed "Sunshine".

Then there's the twins...

Orchid and Oleander... or, wait, that's not right.

Maybe. That's not right either. You know, I have absolutely NO idea which one is which! This is the first set of identical twins I've ever had in the game, so it's been great fun getting them confused every other moment. Anyway, their biological father is Kevin Beare from the Frat House at Sim State University.

The youngest child in the house...

Is Periwinkle. His father is the Genie of the Lamp. Too bad he couldn't inherit the purple skin! But I'm sure he's purple at heart.

Then there's Brigit, the mommy of all these tots who is slowly but surely making her way through the entire breeding population in my game. Her husband is Chase, whom she met at college and it's his job to remain blissfully unaware of what's going on under his own nose.

So let's get this show on the road!

First stop is Periwinkle's birthday. Nigella gets to do the tossing...

Since I get weary of typing all these kids' stats every time, I decided to use a copy/paste screenshot instead. Peri is a typically even-keeled Cancer, but bordering on painfully shy. He's kinda cute, too. :)

Okay, I must have been asleep at the wheel through most of Periwinkle's toddlerhood. I have no idea why I didn't get pics of all the doodads, but here's proof in his memories that he learned all three skills.

Since Brigit has been NOT pregnant since Peri was born, it's time to put the next Baby Daddy to use. So she heads downtown in search of the one I want to use for baby Q...

Ah, luckily we find Baby Daddy Q on the very first lot we enter!

Nope, not Mr. Big. He's for later. This trip is to get Brigit impregnated by Mrs. Crumplebottom. I decided that Brigit will have to get a smack-down from Mrs. C's handbag before I can cheat the pregnancy. So she used Mr. Big to bait the old bat.   Unfortunately Agnes didn't seem to care about all the smooching and flirting and groping and excessive PDA that was going on right in front of her face....

It required a trip to the photobooth with Mr. Big before Mrs. C finally lost her patience...

*DING* The moment of conception!

And proof that Brigit will soon have a bump in her belly to match the one on her head. :D

This is going to be a scary baby. D:

Anyway, back at home...   These are all siblings but the only ones who look like they are related are the twins. Viva la difference!

The next couple of days go by with little to report, and pretty soon it's Periwinkle's birthday again...

O_O Why the heck is that even an everyday outfit?

That same moment Brigit got her second Crumplebaby bump.

You know that movie "Rosemary's Baby"? Yeah. *shudder*

And pretty soon it's time for the Double-Mint Twins to have their birthday.
(You might want to ignore the fact that there's an infant in the background. That's actually Periwinkle. So yeah, this one should have been in the last update. I'm a little rusty, okay!?)

Funny that Mulberry finds the pink tracksuit shock-worthy. The Kimono is okay, though.

At this point the pink tracksuit actually gave me the idea to color code Orchid and Oleander to help me tell them apart. So....

From now on, Oleander always wears blue and Orchid wears pink. Got it? Good.

The same evening as the twins' birthday, the ~~abomination~~ Cumplebottom baby arrives...

And there was much rejoicing.

I would like to introduce you all to Queen Anne Lace. A baby girl who seems to have gotten Mrs. C's skintone 3 and light blue eyes, and Brigit's red hair. The spawn of the devil looks pretty normal so far.

Anyway! Chase managed to top his current career. Again. This makes career number... 5?   Rock God, Celebrity Chef, Game Designer, General, and now Head of SCIA. But he won't be spending much time there because he'll be hopping into another career at the fist convenient moment.

With the house full again, and Brigit on a tight schedule, it was time for Mulberry to move to college. With two measly scholarships? o___o

Whatever. It's not like I'm trying to get points for that. Anyway, I turned on the special events camera to see who came to see him off to University....

And it was his dad! Cooper Seifert.

Now the Wall O' Photos is officially at the half-full mark. And I can still name them all! From left to right...
Top shelf: Aster, Buttercup, Clover, Dogwood, Euphorbia, Foxglove, Geraldton Wax.
Middle shelf: Hawthorne, Iris, Jasmine, Kaffir Lily, Lupine, and Mulberry.

Mulberry's departure means Periwinkle is the only boy in the house now. Poor kid has to mostly entertain himself since the older girls are all teens and the Devil Spawn is still in diapers.

Mulberry's departure also means there's room in the house for one more. So, bright and early the next morning, as the kids leave for school, Brigit invites the next Baby Daddy over.

But first, this requires some back story...

Apparently Ashley Pitts is disgusting and dreamy at the same time. o_O
The next Baby Daddy isn't Ashley, but he is involved. See, he left college before Brigit even graduated, 'cause I had a plan. I moved him into the neighborhood and plopped him on an empty lot...

With a telescope. His job was to get abducted and get pregnant with an alien baby. Preferably a boy...

And that's how Zenith Pitts came to be.

Now Zenith is all grown up, and he's going to fulfill the "daddy who is an alien" criteria.

So he and Brigit have been getting to know each other over the last many pregnancies and babies. And today he's getting invited over for the first time....

"Heeeyy, alien dude! Love the shirt, man."
Which is why Chase took the first job that started that morning. Natural Science.

"Gosh, I have such a great marriage. I just love being married to Brigit. I'd marry her again in a second!"
Gah, Chase, stop making me feel so guilty! D:

As Chase pulls away, Brigit makes her move. Then she and Zenith move around back where there's a photobooth stashed behind the house...

"I... am now a MAN."
If you say so, Zenith. What's important is we have a lullaby. Baby R is on the way.

"Hey mom, some kid at school said you would woohoo anything. What does that mean?"

Oh joy.

Whew, awkward moment aside, it's time to bring the Devil Spawn to her cake and see what kind of toddler the unholy offspring of Mrs. Crumplebottom is...

*O_O*

Oookay... Well, Queen Anne Lace doesn't seem to resemble her biological "father" at all. I'm wondering if this is because Mrs. C had plastic surgery to make her more scary looking after she was created, or if the game just assigned some random default face template. Those eyebrows seem odd though. They must be from Mrs. Crumplebottom. I guess. D:

Oh look, Periwinkle is running to the front door with his A+!

And the household got a green baby! It's another girl, and it looks like she inherited her grandfather Ashley's brown hair. She's also got Brigit's grey eyes. I named her Ruellia, which is a flowering plant also known as Wild Petunia.

Ruellia's arrival means the house is full again, and Brigit needs to be pregnant. An empty womb means we need more room!

So, being the oldest, Nigella collects her scholarships and heads off to Sim State.

And is joined by her father, the RepoMan "Sunshine". :D

OMG Sunshine is going to cry.

Needing a change of scenery, I decided to send Brigit on vacation in search of the next Baby Daddy....

Takemizu Village. Known for it's exotic architecture and strawberry cheesecake. o_0

After a few hours wandering the community lots, Brigit finally meets the next intended father: the Ninja. Or one of them, anyway.

Learning how to teleport is the means of impregnation this time, and baby S is on the way.

At this point I was desperately curious about what this guy looks like under that mask. So I summoned him to an empty lot (it took 3 tries, since all the Ninjas are named "Ninja", but he's the only one with green eyes so I knew I got the right one when he finally showed up). The plan was to make him selectable then take him to a mirror and have him remove the mask, similar to what I did with the Witch Doctor. Well, making him selectable didn't make that possible. He has zero options for interacting with anything. Which is a sure sign that making him selectable at all was a bad thing. D: But not wanting my efforts to go to waste, I just simply shoved the camera against his face so it clipped through his mask....

And it would appear this one has the Goopy face!

Then I exited without saving, while crossing my fingers and kissing a photo of Will Wright, hoping that would be enough to keep the evil game-exploding demons at bay.

Anyway! Back home it's soon time for another birthday party. Ruellia gets to have hair and a personality now...

But she doesn't get to have lips or cheeks, I guess.   But look at what a sweet thing she is!

Over the next few days, she learned all her skills, and got a new hair style. Something that makes her lack of cheek-meat less obvious. Sort of.

Pretty soon it's time for a couple more birthdays. Starting with Queenie here...

Don't let the girlie dress and sweet expression fool you. She's venomous.

The next afternoon I sent Periwinkle to a birthday cake so he could finally become a teen. I put the cake in the kitchen thinking that it would be a refreshing change from the million or so dining room birthday pictures I've taken so far. Yeah, the kitchen is way too small for all those people and it was a fiasco.

But Periwinkle managed to age up anyway. And picked purple! :D Now he's starting to show evidence of being the son of the Genie of the Lamp.

Yes, that's a butler. This household is crazy rich now, thanks to Chase topping half a dozen careers, so I let Remington go and hired Ti-Ning Parker (lol).

Pretty soon it's time for the cheek-less wonder to have her birthday, as well.

Ruellia probably won't ever win any beauty contests, but I think she's growing into her looks and she has such a sweet disposition I can't help but love her.

Oh right, Brigit's pregnant.

Such a mixed reaction from the crowd. Chase seems to be the only one who's moved by the addition of another baby to the family. Though from the looks of it, he's moved a little closer to the edge of that cliff.

"Nice baby, Mom. Don't get too attached to her."

So, the daughter of the Goopy-faced Ninja is named Sweet Pea. She's got brown hair (o_O that Ninja must be a dye job), and his green eyes. Now the house has 5 girls in it, and only one Periwinkle.

Holy crap, Peri! Not with the baby!

"What? She's likes it."

I'll be surprised if this kid survives to toddlerhood. D: Anyway, at least Peri is very good at taking care of Sweet Pea...

Perhaps she'll give him more respect than his other sisters do!

Chase, the Wonder Spouse, manages to top his 6th career. Of course he won't be keeping this one because Ecological Guru only works one day a week, which doesn't mesh with Brigit's baby-making schedule.

In the meantime we've got one more birthday to commemorate. Ninja baby, Sweet Pea...

And I definitely see the Goopy-face in her features. She's another darling and it appears she will live up to her name.

Well, as much as I love having the twins around, they are now the oldest kids in the house and Brigit needs room for making more babies....

So they head off to college with their scholarships.

And of course Kevin was there to help his daughters settle into their new dorm. :D

Time for another Baby Daddy to come a-knockin. Chase took the first job that started that morning, giving Brigit time alone for some baby-making...

Mr. Big arrived with a 'kiss-kiss-dahling' just as the school bus showed up.

"Hey there, Mr. Big!"
"Brigit, you've got kids?"
"Uh, a few, yeah."

"Hi, Mr. Big!"
"Hey, kid."

"Hello, Mr. Big."
"Hello, little girl... Brigit, how many are there?!"
"She's the last one who can walk."

Woohoo that counts and a lullaby the first try.

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Whew, I know this was fast paced, but now I'm almost up to the point where I last played, so another update should be coming pretty soon. I just have to sort through a million or so photos! D;

So, until next time....

Here's the Baby-and-Daddy Tally so far:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, from Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Mulberry	by	Matchmaker Date, Cooper Seifert
Nigella	by	Repo Man, "Sunshine"
Orchid+Oleander	by	College Student, Kevin Beare
Periwinkle	by	Genie, from the Lamp
Queen Anne Lace	by	Woman, Mrs. Crumplebottom
Ruellia	by	Alien, Zenith Pitts
Sweet Pea	by	Ninja, from Takemizu Village
Baby T	by	Mr. Big, Abhijeet London

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Have you ever seen the horror movie "Scanners"? D:

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It's dead, Jim.

2009-09-25T18:32:03Z

Demised. Checked out. Belly up. Bought the farm. Flat-lined. Pushing up daisies. Croaked. Kicked the bucket. Bit the dust.

------

This describes my computer as of last Saturday. One moment it’s humming along normally, and the next thing I know it’s got X’s for eyes, completely unresponsive. The lights were out and no one was home. I did everything I was capable of to breath some sort of life back into it. Which included (but not limited to) replacing the power supply. But after 24 hours of unseccessful resussetation I started fearing the worst. Not wanting to assume it was a hopeless cause, I took my computer to a specialist on Monday who, unfortunately, confirmed my suspicions.

Fried motherboard. The computer equivalent of an instantly fatal brain aneurism.

That computer was less than two years old! Which is the part that has me mystified. And miffed. In the past I've always managed to baby my computers well into old age, until I was able or willing to buy a new one. Granted, I’ve had to replace power supplies, hard drives, disk drives, and any number of other parts; not to mention reformatting, rewiring, and reconfiguring. But I have never had a computer just stop like that. No warning. No gasping or thrashing. No blue screen. Just... dead.

So, now my computer is lying open on the dining room table, like some grotesque medical dissection, with its vital parts strewn out next to its once warm carcass. Most of these parts are going into my new computer. Because what I could afford off the shelf is not exactly top-of-the-line. Really, this is just a temporary replacement until I can afford to finance a quad-core computer. But that's not going to happen until after my husband's job situation has been resolved. (He's getting laid off again in November... this will be the 3rd time in 9 months.)

In the meantime I'm working on moving my important data from the "old" hard drive to my temporary new computer. (As well as trying to pinpoint the exact moment that old Gypsy cursed me). Needless to say, this involves rebuilding my Sims game from scratch. The neighborhoods are still intact on my other hard drive, but I'll need to reinstall (gawd) and redownload and reorganize. It's just a lot of RE crap I have to do before things are back to 'normal' and I can play again.

Anyway, at least I'm back online. I don't know... Maybe I should just give up on computers and get a parrot instead.

A Non-Obituary

2009-09-17T22:42:21Z

So, what started off as a quick post to dispel any rumors that I might have been fatally run over by a beer truck, this has turned into an epic-sized episode of "A Day in the Life of Fuzzy". o_O Apologies.

- - - -

Have you ever noticed how some things change so slowly that the change is completely imperceptible? (Despite that question being the opposite of imperceptibly contradictory. Or... what?) What I'm talking about are things like the movement of glaciers, the hair growing on your head, and the accumulation of crud in the microwave. Changes you don't notice on a day to day basis, but only after some time has passed. I think everyone understands that. Except maybe that one person who wipes down the microwave after every use, snips precisely .423 of a millimeter off the end of each hair every morning, and whose hobby is charting the insignificant movement of glaciers over vast amounts of time. To that person I say, “ Dude, they make a medication for that now.”

Another slow change we can all relate to is the atrophy of unused muscle. I’ve come to realize there are certain muscles in the body that are the equivalent of baby teeth. You have them as a child and at some point, by adulthood, they are lost. To be replaced by gelatinous protein and inflexible gristle. But, unlike baby teeth, it is possible to re-grow those lost muscles. Though it is a very painful process. And, as odd as it sounds, some people re-grow them willingly. They do it by working out at the gym, riding a bike instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of riding the elevator, and walking from the computer to the refrigerator instead of scooting around the house on a rolling desk chair. To those people I say, “Um... They make decaffeinated coffee now.”

Physical exertion isn’t one of my favorite pastimes. So I’m proud to say that I have built and destroyed whole empires, killed roving hordes of flesh-eating mutants, saved kidnapped princesses, and cleared entire minefields by doing little more than moving a single finger. Yes, I play video games. The worst physical injury I’ve ever suffered from a video game was that time I played Super Mario Bros for like 17 hours straight. I could barely move my swollen thumbs the next day. However, once the calluses formed, I never suffered from Nintendonitus again. *smug*

Fade to black; spotlight stage left; enter the Wii.
We've owned a Wii for some time now, but I haven’t paid much attention to it because none of the games managed to really grab my interest. And after so many hours of Lego Star Wars and My Sims I decided to get something a little more 'mature' and settled for a certain pro golfer's brand of golf simulation game play. Golf: the definition of grown-up fun. Right? Surely I've not been misinformed.

Anyway, because of the Wii’s unique controller, there is no getting around having to stand up and actually swing a virtual golf club in order to play the game. I swear I have really played real golf in the real world, and I swear 5 hours straight of this Certain Pro Golfer’s Brand of Golf on the Wii is just as strenuous! The only difference is, instead of riding in a golf cart to the next fairway, I get to collapse on the couch between holes. As a result, I'm going through the very painful process of re-growing some of those lost muscles from childhood. Nix that. I'm pretty sure I'm actually growing muscles I've never had before in my life. And a few extra bones.

Maybe moderation is the key. ROFL! Right. I guess I've never been one for moderation. If I go so far as to open a bottle of wine, I'm going to finish it, dammit. It's the same with stuff like Doritos and M&M's. Which would explain why once a game disc goes into my ROM drive, it doesn't leave again until I'm being threatened with intervention from well-meaning family members. And, unlike wine or Doritos, you can't imbibe so much of a video game that you pass out from it. All those mornings my husband found me sleeping with my face on the computer desk, and the Sims still running, had nothing to do with the volume of consumption! I was tired, is all. Very, very tired.

PS - There is far more important stuff going on in my life right now, but I don't think you guys want me to expose my ugly, pulsating underbelly. That, and I hate pity parties (tiny violins eat my soul, man). Besides, I must remain elusive and mysterious! Like an undiscovered species of chameleon living in a volcanic crater on some remote island somewhere. Eating bugs with my tongue... o_o But I'll be back in your internets eating your bandwidths soon enough. See, I’m penciling it in now...

I gave birth to a slideshow. D:

2009-08-06T00:57:43Z

Ever since the Exchange went belly-up, I have been looking for an alternative for posting my Sim stories. I love the click-to-advance slideshow aspect of the Exchange, and I've been desperately looking for something "similar but better". I've spent months looking.

I've downloaded countless programs and software; tried every online generator, wizard, and widget I could find. I've signed up for every photo sharing site, photo hosting site, and web building site I thought might have a simple click-button slide show that also allows for a generous amount of text with each slide. I don't want fancy transitions, or music, or borders, or thumbnails, or anything but a simple click-button slideshow that also allows for a generous amount of text with each slide. I'm convinced this does not exist. At least not for the portion of humankind that is not techno-savvy and must rely on outside sources for our click-button slideshow needs. SO, I have been beating my brains up the past many weeks trying to learn Javascript so I could make my own flippin click-button slide show that allows for a generous amount of text with each slide, dammit. I would use Slideshare or something similar just to make my own life easier, but I don't want to be forced to conform to their idea of what I need or want, man. I just want a SIMPLE slideshow, that shows my pictures their true size, and has room for as much or as little text as I want to add to each one. Why is this so hard to find?! *waves fist!*

Well, I'm still in the zygote stage where Java knowledge is concerned, but I finally found some well-written code that is easy enough for me to understand and manipulate. And I now have a simple click-button slideshow with full sized photos taken right out of the game, and as much text as I want to go with each slide. BUT I need people to look at it and tell me if something looks wrong. There's a little bit of a fade effect that happens with Internet Explorer that I need to fix (WTH IE?). And it might take a few seconds for the slideshow to load up, since it's loading all the photos in the background from Photobucket (if it takes a LOT of time, let me know). It will start on a default "logo" slide, then progress to the first slide when you click forward. When you reach the last slide, it will loop back to the first slide again. The controls are pretty simple: the middle button takes you back to the first slide, and the arrows are for "forward" and "back". Here's the slideshow (it's a work in progress still)...

Hosted on another site, because LJ won't allow Java in a post. *sadface*

Sorry about typos and unchecked grammar and stuff. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out with this! :D

*collapse*

The Sims in Still Life

2009-08-03T18:53:41Z

Another week gone, and another week gone by without any progress in my challenge stories. At this point it's going to be September before I get time for any serious playing. ("serious playing" lol oxymoron) The next month is booked with out-of-town guests coming to visit, appointments, and way too much yard work. Might be why August is my least favorite month of the year.

Anyway, at the moment, I'm at least glad to have something like sim_scenes to inspire me to get into the game for a few hours during the week, and help stretch my imagination. Oh, and I should mention I installed Pets recently. Like, a week ago. Which is what gave me the idea for the story I did for last week's prompt words: new friend, optimism, and creativity. Hey, nothing on the planet is more optimistic than a dog! And a dog is "man's best friend"... perfect. I just had to work in the creativity part.

I keep a pad of graph paper on my desk for jotting down notes, and last Monday I jotted down a quick little stick-figure storyboard for my idea...

LOL Why yes, I do have a degree in art. Why do you ask?

As you can see, my story pretty much followed the storyboard frame for frame, I just hadn't settled on what other objects the dog would retrieve before he brought the violin. (Ignore the "Wed. 26" that's just an appointment reminder.) So, I would need a guy and a dog to do this. But having actually played with the Pets EP a couple of times, I knew that I would not be able to control the dog. Or freeze him. Or use any of the cheats I normally use on human Sims. If there are cheats that work on pets, I'm not aware of them, so I probably did this the hard way. Like I usually do! Anyway, planning ahead, the part of The Dog was played by....

Three dogs. I named them Jane, Jill, and Jet. But that didn't help me keep straight who was who. D: That didn't really matter though. I just figured with 3 dogs on the lot, there was bound to be one of them doing what I needed it to be doing at the moment I needed it done. By the way, I named the guy Van. Van Gogh. lol

There were two more Sims on the lot: a child - so I had someone for Van to interact with whose eye level was close to where Van needed to be looking when interacting with the dog. Van actually only interacted with a dog the two times I needed him to throw something. The other Sim on the lot was Van's father, Eskar. Get it? Eskar Gogh? lol?

Eskar was actually the one who painted the still life, while I had Van going through the pose box menu looking for the right animations I'd need. And yes, that really is a still life. I've been wanting to use that anatomy mannequin for something ever since I found it! The other objects are from in the game (though the pirate accordion is extracted). Getting them to sit together like that required the use of several shiftable OMSPs. The violin sits on a 45 degree angle OMSP that sits on top of another 45 degree angle OMSP because I needed the violin tilted on two axis so it would lie at a natural looking angle against the other objects. (omg maths)

I spent two years in college painting what seemed like nothing but still life paintings (in fact, this was serious deja vu). Back then I usually tried to make some sort of poetry out of what I put together for the still life. And I tried to do that here, too. It's art; and I guess it doesn't have to be understood by anyone but the person who painted it. Or in this case, photographed it.

I don't know; I think it's kind of sublime. In a creepy way. The only thing that almost ruins this for me, is the fact the objects don't cast shadows. :P

SO, that's a glimpse into my creative process. And this serves as a 'shout out' as well. Just letting you all know I'll be extremely busy the next few weeks. I hope everyone is having a great summer! Or winter, depending on what hemisphere you live in. ;D

Sim Scenes: New Friend - Optimism - Creativity

2009-08-03T04:53:52Z

I thought of this little "story" last Monday for this week's sim_scenes , and only managed to start putting it into pictures tonight. A little bit rushed, and I see things that might not be entirely clear, but at least it's out of my head! lol... The prompt words are New Friend, Optimism, and Creativity.

Never Work With Children Or Animals

I hope it's clear the guy was painting a still life when the dog interrupted him. D: And I figure the dog represents the "optimism" part. Since he's determined to find something that guy won't throw back. lol

Of course I see a bunch of things I should have done different, but if anyone has any suggestions on how this could have been better, please let me know! :D I live to learn.

Sim Scenes: Studying - Pain - School

2009-07-25T01:30:10Z

This is my first Sim Scenes entry! I hope it's okay! I'm really nervous! *hyperventilate*

studying - pain - school

--------------------------------------------------------

Hoo boy, I hope it makes sense. I realized while doing this that I am too much of a perfectionist, and spent three days just looking for all the right little bits of CC junk. D:

And of course my stupid LJ cut is borked. Oh well.

Oh, by the way...

2009-07-19T22:06:28Z

Remember when I had some trouble reserving my user ID for the Sims 3 website? A couple of months ago I had an inkling this might have been a database glitch, so I went to the Sims3 site and attempted to sign in. And was successful. Despite never actually "registering". o_O

So, my best guess is that I'm so important to EA, they have me down as a permanently registered user on all their sites. :D

My TS3 SimPage... complete with a doughy simself who looks just like all the other Sims running around town. :P

ಠ_ಠ ...the heck

2009-07-19T02:28:38Z

Has it been more than a month?! Dang.

I was hoping to make an appearance with something Sims related, but I’m here sans Sims this time. Real Life has been far too demanding lately. Or something. That, and I’m suffering from a near lethal case of lethargy - otherwise known as The Mehs. I suppose that’s not an excuse for being completely missing from the community for so long, but I really don’t think anyone wants to hear about my daily non-Sim life. It involves mundane household stuff, summer heat, and a large number of Band-Aids. Not because my normal, everyday routine is dangerous in any way. I just seem to attract injury. And not because I'm clumsy or distracted; I’m the most focused and balanced person in my family. So what’s the problem?

Inanimate objects are trying to kill me.

And nothing quite so obvious as knives or broken glass (though I’ve had my share of run-ins with those). As a person who once managed to acquire a concussion from a stuffed animal, I think I know when seemingly innocuous objects are out to get me. Here are a few that I know of...

Dull Pencils - That’s because sharp pencils actually pose a danger, so I tend to be a lot more careful with those. But with dull pencils I become negligent in my attention, thinking there is no immediate danger from something that can barely scratch letters onto paper. It's that eraser end you have to watch out for! I once had to wear a patch over my eye for a week thanks to that misjudgment. I have also discovered that other writing utensils can maim as well. Like crayons, markers, and keyboards.

Which of these two items would you say is more dangerous?

I’m sure many of you are thinking about those nasty, ouchy paper cuts. I've had paper cuts that almost required a tourniquet. But the wounds I’ve suffered from cardboard would even make a surgeon cringe. And this closely relates to the reason I won’t play cards.

Cheese Graters - This has to be the single most evil thing on the planet. I have scars on top of scars to prove it. It’s gotten to the point where I literally break down in tears at the prospect of having to grate cheese. Because, no matter how many times I have grated cheese in the past, and how much "practice" that adds up to, I am guaranteed to loose at least one knuckle every single time I use the thing.

Uncooked Pasta - I have a long history of food injuries (Did you know that roasted marshmallows can burn with a flame so hot you can’t even see it?), but nothing says "pain" like a vermicelli noodle shoved up under your fingernail. Except maybe a toothpick. Though, fortunately, I’ve avoided that whole under-the-fingernail routine with those. But toothpicks have impaled me, and this always seems to happen when one is hiding in thick carpeting.

There has to be some mathematical formula that can calculate just how far into a human foot a toothpick can travel before it snaps off. The formula would need to take into account the strength and sharpness of the toothpick, as well as the weight and momentum of the foot. Also the angles and forces, the thickness of calluses... actually the equation would look a lot like this:

Yeah, that's pretty advanced. Here's a simplified version for those of you who aren't mathematically inclined:

It translates to precisely 3/4 of an inch - into human flesh. That's when the toothpick snaps off and the human is left to hop on the other foot while screaming profanities and cursing the inventors of toothpicks and carpeting! Which is then followed by a bill from the emergency room about a month later.

Where was I... oh yeah...

Bicycles - Okay, this one is really a love/hate relationship. I love to ride bikes, and they hate for me to ride them. Fortunately, over the years, I have become something of a Bike Whisperer, because I can usually detect when a bicycle does not wish to be ridden before I attempt it. But this is a talent that is hard earned. In my whole life, bicycles are the cause of my most spectacular injuries. And thanks to bicycles, I am also aware of a few other inanimate objects that might want to kill me, like: parked cars, railroad tracks, loose gravel, and perfectly flat pavement. Just to name a few.

Anyway.... wow, I sorta went on a tangent there. o__o
So... besides the daily routine of trying to keep my blood inside my body, I’ve also been paying a little more attention to my neglected Wii and Xbox in between cleaning house, paying bills, and breathing air. Lame reasons to not be online much, but it’s the only excuse I’ve got right now. And I noticed that some of you are updating again, so I'll do my best to make some comments in the next week. <3

Sims3 ≠ Sims2 + 1

2009-06-15T03:38:23Z

I must apologize for my lack of online presence the past couple (few?) weeks. There are several reasons, but mostly because my husband is on lay-off from his job, which means he is at home all the time now. Every day. Every single day of the week. Week after week. o__o   And when you take into account that he has zero neat points, compared to my 8, I now seem to be always cleaning up after a hurricane. BUT, he did sort of make it up to me by bringing me a copy of The Sims 3 the day after it came out. Despite the fact I really didn't want it, and had intended on waiting for at least one expansion pack before delving into that. He's a good guy, though. ;)

OMG, HUGE rambling post about TS3. And picspam!

After playing around with Sims3 for the past couple of weeks, I have a few opinions about it. I'm not going to say it's "better" than TS2, nor am I going to say Sims 2 is "better" than Sims3 (though, at the moment, I largely prefer to play TS2). It's going to come down to what the individual gamer likes, and one style of game-play might be more appealing to them than the other. Comparing Sims2 to Sims3 is rather like trying to compare chess to checkers. There are distinct similarities, but you can't play checkers using chess rules.

Which is what I was trying to do when I first started playing Sims3. And I hated it right out of the gate. After a frustrating week of trying to love the game, I finally realized I was approaching it all wrong, and decided to start over again. But I'll get to the actual game-play in a minute...

From a technical point of view, my computer seems "okay" for running the game. I've got a 2.60 GHz dual core processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 32-bit Windows Vista. My graphics card was what had me worried; it's an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS. (I mention all of this only as a point of comparison for anyone thinking about getting TS3) Not top of the line, but the game runs smoothly enough, with only the occasional jerk or stutter. I play it in windowed mode (which is a built-in option now, yay) on a widescreen monitor. Though my graphics card does start to protest when I'm running the game, and the internet, and a photo editing program, all at the same time. That's when I can hear the cooling fan spinning at about 47 million RPM. Anyway, the only graphics options I've changed to the highest settings are 'texture detail' and 'Sim detail'. Everything else was defaulted as such:

However, after upping the texture and Sim detail, I noticed that there is now a slight lag when rendering a new scene. Like if I zoom out from the center of town, then close-up on one of my Sims back at the house, it takes the game half a second to put all the colors and textures on everything. Not a long enough lag to bother me, though. Before changing those details options, it was mostly instantaneous. I've not yet experimented with turning anything else up, mostly because I'm satisfied with how the game looks. Even with "draw distance" set at medium, this is what the landscape looks like from the house my Sims live in (taken with the in-game camera):

Personally, I don't see any reason to have that setting any higher (only to slow the game down). The surrounding landscape is pretty, yes. But honestly, I spend 99.5% of my time looking at the inside of the house, or zoomed in on a Sim, and the game having to process all of that landscape just slows things down. Though for picture-taking purposes, having a lovely backdrop is kinda nice. Too bad the picture-taking is such a tedious process! It took me some time to get used to it. And I'm still struggling to get things into frame just the way I want them.

Anyway.... One of the first things I did was to make a Sim in CAS so I could explore the new create-a-sim features and give her some of the more "interesting" personality traits. I named her Happy Camper, and gave her some scary traits which included Insane, Inappropriate, and Kleptomaniac. After I moved her into town, it was a few Sim days later when she met herself at the corner bistro one night...

Same crazy clothes I designed in CAS. Same name: Happy Camper. Same traits. Same everything. I'm assuming this is a glitch, because I've not seen any of the other bin sims move a copy of themselves into town yet. After this, I went into the "edit town" screen and found the house Happy-clone was living in. The household was called "Camper" and she was living with an elderly couple which the game must have spawned as her roommates or parents. So I evicted them and deleted them. Which is something that would explode your game in TS2, but in this game there aren't those complex character files to mess things up. Otherwise they wouldn't make it such an easy option to delete any Sim in town, right? *roll eyes*

These TS3 Sims are more like objects and less like actual characters. These Sims have no memories. They have no turn-ons, no turn-offs, no zodiac, no personality points... The only personality they have is from those 5 traits. I love the "idea" of the traits, but those alone really limit the range of individuality. For example, instead of there being points of neatness somewhere between total neat-freak and complete slob, a Sim is simply only Neat OR a Slob depending on whether they actually possess one of those traits. If they don't have one of those traits, they are just sort of benign about cleanliness. There is no in-between or variation. It's all either/or. Ideally, I would like to have seen them leave the personality points in place, then give you the 5 traits on top of that (leaving out traits like "neat" and "grumpy" which are already covered by the points). And left us with the more interesting traits to add to the regular personality, like Loves the Outdoors, Neurotic, Childish, etc. It would have given these Sims much more fleshed-out personalities.

This is probably the main reason why I just can't seem to get attached to any of these Sims. I've played into the forth generation of one family, and after a while it really starts to feel like they are all exactly alike. They are more like animatronic game pieces, and less like little people.

Speaking of exactly alike...

There seems to be this annoying trend that families around town have to wear the same hairstyle. This is the Tate family, and I think that's a father and mother, their adult son, and his wife (or maybe sister). But don't ask me who is who.

Speaking of annoying trends....

Another reason it's so hard to take a decent photo in this game is because as soon as you hit "pause" the Sim you have in frame usually moves their head to the side AFTER you hit pause. Or they roll their eyes around. Sometimes the eyes roll in opposite directions. In general, the way they roll their eyes around reminds me of those baby dolls with the eyes that roll back in their head to make it look like they are sleeping. I don't like it. It's creepy as hell.

And all the Sims have that same deadpan expression. Even when they are in a good mood they just stand there with that somber look on their face. You can usually tell when they are in a good mood because after several minutes they will suddenly bounce and clap and laugh like they are mentally challenged. Then it's back to looking like a mortician. This lack of facial expression makes the children especially creepy.

These New Sims are far less animated than TS2 Sims. Especially in the face. There's a lot of standing and looking all emo. Some of the traits have built-in idle movements, like the Insane Sims will talk to their hand. But not all traits have something, so there's a lot of standing and looking all emo. o___o

Most of the interactive animations between Sims were taken directly from Sims2 (way to shortcut, EA)...

But there are far fewer interactions now, and you have to actually "unlock" interactions between Sims. Romance is like a mini game (sorta like Matchmaker Dates in TS2), and even if the Sims are married they have to go through the whole process of getting to that stage where they find each other "very irresistible" before something like woohoo or Try for Baby is an option. Which annoys the hell out of me. Unless one of them has the Family-Oriented trait, the Try for Baby option isn't always there. Though even with the option there, if the other Sim is not at least to the stage of "very alluring" or in a good enough mood, the woohoo might be rejected.

I have heard that the Sims will woohoo autonomously, but I've yet to see them get to that stage on their own. They will flirt and kiss up to that "very irresistible" stage, then one of them will throw in a non-romantic interaction like "gossip" and reset the whole process. There is no chemistry between TS3 Sims, and they will like the next Sim just as much as this Sim. It doesn't really matter who you hook them up with (though some traits clash and it takes a little longer to build the relationship). You pretty much have to force the relationships anyway.

My observations show the "Townies" either spawn with a spouse or just never get married. I have yet to witness autonomous marriage. There is occasionally a wedding announcement in the newspaper, but these are always the "new" people in town who have spawned with a spouse. It looks like sometimes the game gives them a random "steady" girlfriend or boyfriend, that is usually a roommate, and they will usually have kids along the way. The game seems to decide how many people should live in a house based on how many beds are in it. So there's often unrelated Sims living in the same household. Babies seem to spawn to single people as often as to the couples. Even men end up with a child that technically has no mother.

Speaking of babies...

Just like in TS2, they all look the same. Except even more so, because these babies don't seem to show a hair or eye color until they are toddlers. I think this particular baby grew up to have black hair and brown eyes. You can now click on the baby to view it's needs. And let me tell you, infants' needs drop twice as fast as normal! But, there is the option to take them to a birthday cake and age them up to toddler the minute they are born. In fact, you can age any Sim before their actual birthday. Within reason... I think adults have to go through half their adult stage before you can "cake" them to elder. The toddler stage is now 7 days (when the game is set to normal aging), but I usually cake them ('cake' is a verb now, yo) after they learn all there skills. Which sometimes only takes a couple of days.   This really speeds up the family-growing process, and gives you more time to help the Sims with that ridiculously slow skill-learning. (OMG, skilling has taken on a whole new SLOW.)

The genetics are pretty simple. There are no hidden or recessive hair and eye colors. The kids either get one of their parents' hair and eyes, or one of their grandparents (if there are any). And I heard somewhere that there is like a 10% chance of a totally random, mutant hair and eye color. Facial features seem to work like they did before, where the child gets either parents' nose, mouth, jaw, etc.

You can't really tell anything about how the child is going to look when they are still children....

These are twin sisters; that's Lyric on the left, and Joy on the right. And though they look almost identical...

They aged-up to teen looking more distinct from each other. That's still Lyric on the left, and Joy on the right.

Incidentally, these two girls happen to be my simself's granddaughters. And at this point I decided to do a little genetic experimentation. So when they aged up to Young Adult, Lyric was sent out to live among the Townies, while Joy was sent husband-hunting...

That sneer is what passes as a smile in this game. D:
Anyway, that's Joy and her husband, Jarrett. I picked him because (besides her being friends with him since she was a kid) he has moss-green eyes and that awesome skintone which is like the equivalent of S47. Luckily, young adults are able to get married and have babies now. So when you combine the length of the YA stage with the length of the normal adult stage, that's nearly 40 days worth of fertility! So the potential for huge families is definitely there.

Here are their first three kids; all boys; all single births...

Left to right:
Jericho (young adult), Jordan (teen), and Jasper (teen). Like the names matter, but whatever. ;D
I think this is a pretty good example of how the facial features get distributed. I've not seen any clones so far (and this is the 3rd born-in generation). I've been looking at black hair since Fuzzy's son, so I decided to dye Jarrett's hair red and see if that has any effect on the next child born. Because I heard that dyed hair can be inherited.

The next birth was twin girls...

Try not to look too excited, girls. Someone might suspect you aren't soulless manikins.
Now is when the strangeness began. No inherited red dye, but they both have dark brown hair. Which was their grandmother's hair color, so it might have come from her; or not. However, what's odd is that Juneau (on the left) has black roots, while Joplin (on the right) has lighter brown roots. Again, they look like they have identical features...

But this is Juneau (left) and Joplin (right) as teens.

There was still room in the house for one more offspring, so I went through the process of getting Joy and Jarrett to Try for Baby again. He's still got his hair dyed red at this point, and the baby they had was not what I was expecting.

Are you ready for this?

Meet the 6th child, a girl named Jupiter....

Did you go 'O_O'
Yeah, I did too. ;D   Blond hair and purple eyes. I have NO idea where that came from! She must have gotten that 10% chance of the 'mutation' rolled for both her hair and eyes. Funny that I named her "Jupiter" without having set sight on her yet. She really is out of this world.

Here she is as a child. It's cool that I can make clothes for her that actually match her eyes. Believe it or not, her favorite color is purple.

Anyway, that's as far as I've played with my genetic experimentation, and I've yet to see Jupiter as a teen. Joy still has a lot of adult life to go, so she'll be having kids as long as I can stand it.

A few more things about the game that are just "different" than in TS2.... one of which being death.

Dying of old age now involves a light show, then *pop* - U R GHOST.

Then Grim shows up and directs you towards the afterlife.
Grim was not cooperating with me when I was trying to take these photos. Every time I hit 'pause' he would turn his head away from the camera. So it looks like he's got a large duck head under his cowl.

By the way, it's a complete coincidence that Leighton Sekemoto happened to be at the cemetery when he died of old age (he was collecting rocks), and that his oldest son, Sam, happened to be there, too.

Leighton also happened to be Fuzzy's townie husband, and the great-grandfather of those kids you were just looking at. Before he died, my simself met an untimely death...

As an elder, Fuzzy had a high skill in mechanical, so I set her to upgrading the appliances. She was making the stove "fireproof" (by hitting it with a hammer) when she was electrocuted. (ignore the stupid man-maid) Well, that didn't kill her. In fact, her needs never even budged, so I figured it was just a cute/silly event that could happen when upgrading electrical appliances. So I set her to finishing the upgrade...

When it happened again....

And this time took. See that puddle of water? Yeah, I couldn't see that from the other side of the wall where I was watching from.

Grim showed up just like he does for old age. At that point Leighton had the option to "Play chess for Fuzzy's life" with Grim, but I couldn't get him to stop the crying action in time to act on it.

Since there are no aspirations, the deceased get a symbol on their grave showing how they died. Looking through the cemetery, Sims can also drown, starve, and burn to death.
(Sorry about the warped perspective. I was still trying to get used to how the camera works at this point.)

When a family member dies, someone will get the "opportunity" to take the urn to the science center for some experiments. What happens is the dead Sim is returned to playable form, but they are still a ghost. So basically, you have a transparent Sim whose needs decay just like a normal Sim. I guess this is handy for untimely deaths, and you really want to complete their LTW. Or make them come back and finish upgrading the damned appliances.

After you are tired of playing a ghost, you can just send them back to the afterlife, and they become "normal" ghosts again. Ghosts in this game are like any Sim that is visiting the lot. They can be interacted with just like a living Sim. And like all Sims, they seem to suffer from needs decay....

And seem to always be tired. Fuzzy's favorite thing to do was start preparing a meal she never finished, then take a nap in one of the kids beds.

Leighton always played with the toddler when there was one around. Or just played video games. Then take a nap.

To me the ghosts are a little more annoying than TS2 ghosts. Mostly because a Sim will drop everything out of their queue to go "A Ghost!" even if they were just talking to him 2 seconds before that.

The Sims 3 seems to be designed for you to play it from one household's perspective. Always. And you watch the rest of the town evolve around you. I did try experimenting with switching between two households, and that was a disaster. It takes about 3 days to get one family taken care of, their needs met, wishes granted, and opportunities taken. But when you switch to another household, then come back, it's like starting over again. Except they are now older and have not made any progress in learning skills or their career or school. The Townies are a lot like Dormies from TS2 University. They appear to be doing stuff and accomplishing things, but they are really just puppets until you marry them in and make them playable. Except these Townies do age, and sometimes spawn a child. If you MUST be in control of the "spares" who move out, then you need to be playing TS2. Here, there is no control of anyone but the active household.

Because this is more of a "watching" game, than an "all-control" kind of game, there are other things to do. Supposedly to keep you from getting bored "watching" the Townies get fat and fight with each other in the park. You can make one of your active Sims collect stuff. Like fish, bugs, recipes, and rocks that can be smelted into metal or cut into gems.

But there doesn't seem to be any "reward" for collecting everything, like all of the gems. Except you have collected them all, and have to find somewhere to put them. There is often some kind of special ability or item for getting a Sim to the top of their career, but this doesn't always benefit the next generation (like career rewards do).

At this point I feel like there isn't anything in the game to keep my interest. Building a legacy and generational game-play is really very tedious to me. Mostly because you are stuck inside that one household, and can't take a "break" by playing a spare's house without your main house going to hell while you are gone. TS3 is more like a series of mini games, and things to collect. The collecting aspect is kinda cool. Though it reminds me a LOT of games like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing. So I can see how this will appeal to the younger crowd. I really like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, by the way! But, I play The Sims because it's not like those games. So while Sims3 has it's "fun" points, I think I'll stick to Sims2 as my main "Sims" game.

Who's Your Daddy? Part 9

2009-05-31T05:12:27Z

It's time for another amazing and thrilling update of "Who's Your Daddy?"... Or, maybe just a mildly entertaining update... Or an update that is so lame, it makes you contemplate my mental capacity. Probably more like the kind of update that you can't stand to watch suffer anymore, and you are forced to take it out back and shoot it just to put it out of it's misery.

I'll just call this one Old Yeller.

The Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, from Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Mulberry	by	Matchmaker Date, Cooper Seifert
Nigella	by	Repo Man, "Sunshine"

Let's have a look at the kids living in the house now (and the teens' aspirations, since I forgot to mention those in the last update). From oldest to youngest...

Daughter of the
Wise Old Man

Knowledge
& Family

Daughter of the
Llama Mascot

Family
& Fortune

Daughter of the
Scary Bartender

Romance &
GrilledCheese

Son of the
Witch Doctor

Son of the
Matchmaker Date

Daughter of the
Repo Man

The mother of all these totally
adorable, illegitimate children.

Brigit's husband, and awesome
"Dad" to all the kids.

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So let's catch up by looking at a typical morning in the Beckett house....

Half-sisters, best buddies, and one-nice-point-partners-in-crime, Kaffir Lily and Jasmine start the day by whispering the latest gossip about their older brother, Hawthorne.

Then they take turns giving each other noogies until the school bus arrives.

Yeah, I don't get it; but it works for them.

Mulberry and Lupine are also inseparable. Mostly out of necessity, being way out-numbered by the girls in the house.


Iris, the oldest teen, is a bit of a loner. Which she's perfectly content with.

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So, the tradition of someone bringing home their first A+ the same afternoon a birthday occurs, continues...
Today it's Lupine with the report card...

And Nigella with the birthday...

Nigella is the spitting image of her father. She's also an Aries...

6   neat
10 outgoing
8 active
1 serious
10 nice (?! Sunshine must be nicer than he looks)

I wish there was something from Brigit in her face, but even being all Repo Man Baby, she's really adorable.

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The next morning, before the school bus arrives, the oldest teen heads out into the world... Four scholarships! Good job, Iris. Considering I don't make these kids do anything but homework, they've done pretty good with the scholarships. So far.

Jasmine will be leaving today, too (after she gets home from school).
In the meantime, Brigit needs to get busy on Baby 'O'. So once she's alone in the house, she gets intimate with the next baby-daddy...

The front door? 0__0

This really ranks up there on the Creepy Scale....
Anyway, that's Kevin Beare, he's one of the Fraternity Brothers from Urele-Oresha-Cham House at Sim State University.

He's also a Family Sim, and I made sure all his Family Aspiration Perks were checked off. Including the Super Fertility. I have no idea if that will help me get twins, but it's worth a shot.

I wonder if that double-jointed-neck action is supposed to be sexy...   *shudder*
But there must be something to that neck thing, because Kevin got the job done in one go. Thank you for efficiency, Kev!

"Bye, Jas! Call me and tell me all about college! Call me every day!"

A couple of hours later, Jasmine heads off to college. Leaving enough room in the house for twins, just in case Kevin is as fertile as he is efficient.

Kaffir Lily is not going to be the same without her BFF in the house anymore. But she'll get to join Jasmine at college soon enough...

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That afternoon I spotted Lupine rubbing his shoes on the carpet. This is something I've never seen in action until now! Building up the static charge so he can....

Stand there like this for more than an hour waiting for his parents to finish their conversation so he can zap one of them.

But they weren't showing any sign of stopping, and 6 PM rolled around. I got the "one day to Lupine's birthday" pop-up, so I told him to grow up...

uh.... Yowza.

Witch Doctor genetics has got some serious voodoo going on. He's so pretty....

And he seems to know it. I've never had a teen boy spend so much time in front of the mirror!

He's also another Popularity Sim, with Romance as his secondary aspiration. o_o;

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Oh look! Mulberry brought home an A+, so that must mean there's a birthday happening tonight.

*SLURP*SNARF*GOBBLE*

"Wow, Dad... would you like a bigger spoon?"

So, I had this crazy idea to invite all the older kids around for Nigella's birthday. Since I've not had the whole gang in the house in a while...

Clockwise from left: Geraldton Wax, Jasmine, Clover, and Iris.

Aster is listening to Hawthorne reenact the pulled tendon he got on stage last month while his band was touring Europe.

And then it started raining. Hard. With constant lightning strikes that were setting something in the yard on fire every 20 seconds. That, combined with there being nearly 20 Sims on the lot, made me give up on the "party". Mostly because I think I actually heard my graphics card cry out for mercy.

So everyone was sent home, and the weather machine put to use....

And Nigella could be brought downstairs without the risk of being trampled underfoot (or glitched into someones torso). She age-up smoothly...

She still looks every bit like her Repo Man daddy!

A few minutes later, I witnessed something I've never seen before...

Lupine was making that puking action - nothing new there... But Kaffir Lily was doing the "omg crazy" motion while nodding with approval....

At Brigit and Chase kissing! o__0
I thought it was a mixed-up animation, but then I saw her do it again later. "Uh huh! That's insanely awesome!"

(oh for gosh sakes, Lupine...)

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Later that night....

Gordon and Demi had a smack-down in the living room.
(I'm convinced these two are secretly married.)

I swear Kaffir Lily should have been Chase's biological daughter! Nigella seems to be the only one who doesn't care one way or the other what's going on in the corner.

So, Demi kicked Gordon's butt...

"Hey there kid..."
"Nooo! Stranger danger!"

When Gordon waved to Mulberry, I almost didn't pause fast enough, because he took off like a SHOT to get the hell away from that scary guy! lol! He ran clear out to the road. I've never seen a kid freak out like that before.

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Are you getting tired of seeing Brigit in labor yet? Yeah.... me, too.

YES! But not anymore! Thank you Kevin Beare! I'll never make fun of you again!

And why am I just now noticing that graphic has DNA double helices in the background? Cool.

Twin girls! Lupine is holding Orchid; she's got skintone 2. Oleander has skintone 1. They both have red hair (ugh), and dark blue eyes (yay!).

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Jasmine calls to talk to Kaffir Lily every single day. Every. Single. Day.
I guess Kaffir is getting filled-in about all the raunchy college activities; like belching cows, naked men running around, wild juice parties, and life with ACR enabled.

Oh look, Nigella's A+ report card. There must be a birthday tonight....

Time for Orchid and Oleander to show us what they are made of....

OMG THE CHEEKS!

They look so much like Kevin! They did get Brigit's tilted eyes and her nose. So it's a good mix of genetics. Thank goodness for the different hair styles, because they look like they might be identical, and I already get them confused. Fortunately their personalties are quite different...

Orchid is an Aquarius.
3 sloppy
5 outgoing
6 active
5 playful
6 nice

Oleander is a Scorpio...
7 neat
4 shy
8 active
6 playful
3 mean

The twins' birthday is followed by Mulberry's...

Mulberry got Pleasure, with Popularity as a secondary. Hm, yeah, good luck with that, kid.

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Okay... this is something that is starting to drive me up the wall...

Chase talks about his "Travels" constantly. That one vacation he went on. To Three Lakes. And spent 5 days sleeping in the hammock at Bigfoot's cabin. But my gosh, that one morning when he got to eat flapjacks at the campground was the highlight of his life! He won't shut up about the flapjacks....

Even the rest of the family is starting to get a little tired of the story about the flippin flapjacks!

Gah, I need to take him on a different vacation so he'll talk about something else, maybe...

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SO, the morning after the birthdays, Chase heads off to his NEW job in the Intelligence career. Mostly because he's been a General now for ages.

And that afternoon, Kaffir Lily finally gets to go to college and experience all the NC-17 stuff herself... With just two scholarships. What the heck have you been doing all this time, Kaffir?

I had intended to see which parent came to deliver her to college by turning on the special events camera so I could watch the fun little cut-scene when she arrives. But stupid me put her in an occupied dorm, and apparently the video doesn't play when they move into an occupied dorm.

Anyway, with an empty spot in the house, Brigit gets busy with the next Baby Daddy a day or two later....

"Oooo, prettyyyyy"

Yes, he is kinda pretty. Too bad that skin can't be inherited. But at least those perfect features can. So let's get this over with; make a wish Brigit.

"Mmm, I could go for a guy in a chef's hat right now."

o__O   Try again.

Good choice. *lullaby*

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Since they have plenty of money, and she's already Perma-Plat, what Brigit really wished for was "Beauty".

And it's a mistake I'll never make again!

She has 3 chemistry bolts for every man on the planet now. Including Chase! Which was not part of the plan! I rather liked their single bolt of reserved affection, so they would actually spend time taking care of themselves and the kids, like I need them to do when there are so many people in the house... and not making out every 10 minutes.

Now the Townie men walk by in pairs; some ring the doorbell, while some just walk right in; some actually try to flirt with her (not to mention the ones who come around at 3AM and ring the doorbell, which has forced me to build a fence around the front door every night). This is going to give me ulcers. What's worse, is I read online that this wish was supposed to wear off after 4 days. Nope. It's been four KIDS later, and every man in the neighborhood is still trying to make time with her.
o___o The rest of this challenge is going to be very trying.

"Hmm. My wife is suddenly very beautiful. She should be immortalized on canvas and finally retire that Mona Lisa chick."

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Time for the Cheeky Tots to grow up into Cheeky Kids....

Except for the different skintones, they are abso-flippin-lutely identical.

So I put them in the same hair, and now I can't tell them apart! At all! Isn't that cool!
I've never had identical twins in the game before, so this is too much fun. I think I'll turn off the plumbbob so I get them really mixed up.

Wait.... is that smoke?

Mulberry!

"... then you say 'snoogy-snoogy' while doing this... but don't fall over."

*the sound of sirens outside*

Oh good, it's not Mitch!

"... it's called a 'hang loose' and all the Twikkii Islanders do it. Cool, huh?"
"Well, Lupine, that looked more like a 'hung moose'. You sure it's not a Three Lakes thing?"

Seriously, no one else in the house noticed. And Fireman Neil finally stopped making Me-to-the-Rescue! poses out by the truck and rushed in to extinguish the flames...

"Dude, here's some cash. Do me a favor and don't mention this to my parents. And maybe sneak out the back..."

This is when I realized Fireman Neil has the same face as Mulberry (or rather, Mulberry's dad).
That's too redundant. *scratches Fireman Neil off the list* Sigh, looks like Mitch is back on the menu.

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That night, while the rest of the house slumbered, the Genie's baby quietly came into their lives. Like a silent wisp of fog on a still mountain lake. Like the hushed whisper of butterfly wings on the gentle breeze... Like pots and pans banging together while fingernails scratch a chalkboard....

Skin one, black hair, and brown eyes. It's a boy! And since we are at "Flowers that start with the letter P", I named him Periwinkle. Which is a silly name, but it's got a bit of a magic sound to it. Right?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next afternoon I instructed Chase to prepare (boil? stew? fricassee?) some trout, or catfish, or bass, or whatever fish he happened to have in his pocket since their visit with Bigfoot 8 pregnancies ago. This is in preparation for....

The next headmaster visit. And this time we got B.J.!   That's all three of them. Now all I have to do is pick who I want to use.
He was really impressed when Brigit showed him how she can pinch a coin between her shoulder blades.

As soon as the tour wrapped up, it was time for Nigella to have her birthday, and become a teen...

For being the offspring of that mean ol' Repo Man, she's really quite pretty. She rolled Knowledge, which suits her perfectly. And as a secondary aspiration, the dice gave her... Romance. What is with you kids and Romance?!

"Tell me, little girl, what do you want to be when you grow up? I bet you want to be pretty. A pretty, pretty princess."
"gulp"

If this were real life, I'd have forked him in the eye and run off screaming by now. D:

After a nice (almost normal) visit, B.J. is impressed, and the next 5 kids make it into private school.

Only 11 or so to go. o__o

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The house is full again, Lupine is the oldest, so it's his turn to move out. But it's a Sunday, and I have this weird personal rule that they have to wear the private school uniform at least once before moving to college. So he gets to move out after school tomorrow...

Because I love to watch the kids all file out to the school bus in their spiffy uniforms.

Quick, which one is which?
Yeah, I don't even know. But I think that's Oleander on the left and Orchid on the right. Or... no. Maybe not.

After school, Lupine collected his scholarships and headed off to college. This time I remembered to put him in an empty dorm so I could see which parent came to see him off...

And guess what?

It's his father, the Witch Doctor! :D
I had to grab a screen shot of the video as it played. I managed to get two...

"Nice choice of color, son. You just need some tribal markings and a few feathers, and you'll be ready to take over the family business after you graduate!"

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Whew. And that's it this time around. I've played a bit further and should have another update ready pretty soon.

The Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, from Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Mulberry	by	Matchmaker Date, Cooper Seifert
Nigella	by	Repo Man, "Sunshine"
Orchid+Oleander	by	College Student, Kevin Beare
Periwinkle	by	Genie, from the Lamp

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(PS - I'll be out of town and without internet for a few days. Don't panic if I don't reply to comments, or if I show up at your front door unannounced.)

Who's Your Daddy? Part 8: Recap

2009-05-25T01:08:20Z

I'm cruising in here with a kinda lame, quicky update. Since I've reached letter 'N' in this challenge, I think it's time to go back and take a look at all the kids and their respective fathers up to this point. But first, let me introduce you to another member of the family who just quietly sits in the background...

The House.

Or, "How I took a deceptively cramped living space, and made it livable for a family of 8"

This is what it looked like the day Brigit moved in. It's a bin house that I stripped down until it cost under $20,000 so she could afford to buy it right out of college. Kinda depressing...

And this is the house now. Much more inviting! The yard has changed a few times since I started this challenge. Once upon a time, there was a garden plot and an orchard where there's now a driveway and a Cowplant. The outbuilding was added as place for the teens to hang out. But we'll see that in a minute; let's check out the downstairs first....

This is what it looked like the first night Brigit (and Chase - lol @ the clothes he grew up into) spent in it. The few thousand simoleans Chase brought with him is what furnished the kitchen. After they got jobs, I had to sell the Humble computer to buy more lights. (That fig tree is actually the ACR adjuster, so it didn't cost anything.) Oh how I hate that salmon colored wall paint.

Below is what the downstairs looks like now. The main living area is basically the same, I just built a bedroom for Brigit and Chase off the back...

This arrangement seems to work for a large family. I sorta used the TV cabinet as a "wall" to help divide this open room into distinct areas. I even managed to get in a small study nook in the left, front window bay...

Here's a view of the living area from that window bay. I made liberal use of the 'moveobjects' cheat for decorating and lighting purposes. Notice the potted plants under the stairs? There's an outdoor ground light hidden in one of those so it brightens that area without me having an ugly light sticking out of the floor, or using up wall space.

This view is from the foot of the stairs. (Uh oh, the kids are home! I better hurry up.) There's only 4 dining chairs because I've never had all of them actually sit and eat at the same time. And fewer chairs means more space.

A glance at the stairs and computer area. I even hung a painting on the back of the TV cabinet so it doesn't stand out so much as a huge piece of furniture...

And a quick look at the TV viewing area. I used different paint colors on the walls to help define the separate areas.

The kitchen hasn't changed much at all since Brigit first moved in. (sorry about the extreme fish-eye effect; it was the only way to get the whole room in one photo)
I'll skip showing the downstairs bathroom and bedroom. Those are boring. But let's have a look at that extra room I built off the back porch where the teens like to hang out...

This is where Chase's Rock Hammer guitar went...

I even managed to fit in the ballet barre and exercise bike.
By the way, you might notice that the Rock Hammer's huge amp stack is missing...

That's because it's on the outside! Using 'moveobjects' I was able to put the amps outside, and now the Rock Hammer doesn't take up anymore room than a normal guitar. There you can see that pinball machine career reward on the back porch. That thing boosts fun like crazy, and it's usually the first thing the kids head for after school....

This is what's left of the yard. But it's more than enough space for playing catch, and some playground equipment. The kids can still use the slide when it's set at a 45 degree angle like that. And I can get the equipment closer together so it takes up less space.

Okay, that's the ground level; let's look upstairs now...

THIS is what it looked like that first night. After I put the double bed up there I realized this was not going to work. There was no way to raise toddlers and sleep up to 6 kids in this space...

But now, the upstairs is Kid Central....
Below you can see that I put a new (better) bathroom above the built-on bedroom that's downstairs. And the crib cubbies extend out over the back porch. This bathroom and the half bath downstairs, have worked beautifully for a family of 8. (The toddlers can't play in toilet stalls, which is another reason I use them up here.)

The middle area is for toddler skilling/playing. In the front is the big kids' room. It used to be two cramped bedrooms, but now there's enough space for Cops 'n Robbers, pillow fights, and five beds. I used archways up here so it doesn't feel so claustrophobic and I don't have to hear doors slamming every 5 seconds...

Inside the kids' room...

Yes, I like floor clutter. It's a kids' room, after all. Though in the real world that stuff would be all over the floor and not just tucked neatly in the corners.

Here's the toddler area. And here's a tip: put the activity table on a 45 degree angle. The kids and toddlers can still use it, but instead of taking up 4 grid squares, it only uses one. Sims will sort of walk "through" it, but at least it doesn't cause traffic jams.

Opposite view so you can see the crib cubbies.

And that concludes the house tour! So let's get on with the purpose of this update...

The kids! (Why is Chase the only one who can "see" those invisible OMSP's?)

Letters 'A' through 'H' have moved out and are adults already. Each of them have met their biological father (at least when that was feasible), and I have photos of them together. (Each child's name also has a photo of the bloom they are named after.)

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Now I present to you, the ABC's of Blossoming Acres...

First born, and the son of Brigit's husband, Chase.

After Aster grew up, I realized that the only thing he got from Brigit (besides her coloring) was the nose. The rest is Chase.

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Buttercup's father is the Servo Brigit built at college. His name is Pater (Latin for "father"). Of course it's just about impossible to tell what features Buttercup inherited from him, but I'm positive Servos have default face 2. Especially since I compared her face to a face two female in CAS and there is very little difference.

The kids who got to meet their real father, were able to become friends with them. I probably wasted too much time on that, but I'm too sentimental to let them stay estranged, I guess.

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Clover is one of those who really can't get to know her "real" dad. Chase is the one who gave birth to her. Her other father...

Is this hidden NPC character called "Pollination Technician"... This face is the father of all alien babies born into the game after an abduction.

It was out of the question to let Clover actually meet him, because that's the sort of thing that causes neighborhoods to explode. I went into a blank neighborhood and summoned PT to an empty lot to get these photos.

Besides the skin and eyes (and maybe her ears; I can't remember) Clover seems to have gotten most of her face from Chase.

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Dogwood is the son of a Plantsim. His father, Basil, is the plant-son of Julien Cooke. Julien is technically Dogwood's grandfather.

Now, I need to introduce you to Dogwood's "other" grandfather....

This is another hidden NPC called Ideal Plantsim. He exists for the soul purpose of being the "father" of all plant-babies. He is not the default elf face from CAS (face template 26 - I checked them side-by-side just to be sure), but an altered version of it. The eyes are closer together, and the whole face is pinched in a lot.

So, here is what Dogwood's immediate family tree looks like...

Dogwood did, in fact, get the pointy ears. The mouth, chin, and jaw seem to have been passed down from Julien Cooke.

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The daughter of Ghost Pirate Captain Edward Dregg! Euphorbia spent an afternoon on the old pirate ship, getting to know her dad...

It turns out, after you are friends with him, Captain Dregg will play with your Sim. Okay, I'm not sure this was a good idea. Euphorbia has only one nice point, and I'm guessing he's lacking those as well.

But Euphorbia is the one who knocks her dad into next week.
He was quick to forgive, though....

They chatted a lot and he told his daughter (inappropriate) dirty jokes about w i d e s c r e e n televisions.

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Foxglove is, of course, Brigit's plant-baby she made while she was a Plantsim. So it was not possible for him to meet his "real" dad, Ideal Plantsim. But I got to thinking about their family tree, and I came to a disturbing conclusion...

Foxglove is not only Dogwood's half-brother, but he's also his uncle. If Foxglove ever makes a plant baby, that child will also be his sibling.
Which is probably why Ideal Plantsim does not show up on family trees. It's just too... not right.

But I like Foxgloves interesting genetics, so he'll probably procreate at some point. Just not with his own father!

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G.W. is the son of Hun Reamon, who's the guy Brigit zombie-fied while at college. And that's where he still lives.

Pirates and zombies... telling dirty jokes to their children since 1702.

Hun has the Remington Harris face template, and Geraldton Wax pretty much got the whole package as well. Except for the nose, which is from Brigit.

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Hawthorne is the son of Bigfoot. Whose name is Zeeshan.

It's really hard to tell what Hawthorne got from his father. Not the nose, thank goodness.

Hawthorne and Zeeshan spent the day bonding, father-and-son style...

Though, with Hawthorne's lack of nice points, this could be painful for ol' dad...

But Zeeshan seems to have enough body skill to avoid getting hit in the head.

Anyway, I'm thinking about putting Hawthorne in his own apartment so he can invite his dad to come live with him.

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The next group of kids have not met their fathers yet, because at the end of the last update they were still living at home. So I'll include a photo or two of their fathers anyway.

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Iris is the daughter of Takemizu Village's Wise Old Man.

His DNA says he has blond hair, which Iris inherited. She also got a lot of his Remington Harris face, but enough of Brigit to make her really unique looking. She's probably my favorite mix of genes among the girls so far.

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Jasmine is the daughter of Payton Taylor, a Llama Mascot from Sim State University.

I'm guessing she inherited her non-stop energy from him.... as well as his pointy nose.

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Kaffir Lily is the freaky daughter of Alvin Wong, a Downtown bartender who is best known for stalking, dumpster diving, and making raspberry daiquiris.

Okay, I made up the raspberry daiquiris part. He's the only one who has caught Brigit "cheating" so far.

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Lupine is the son of Twikkii Island's Witch Doctor. And here is the Witch Doctor unmasked....

Face two. Along with black hair, gray eyes, and skintone 3.

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And last, but not least... Mulberry, who is the son of Brigit's blind date, Cooper Seifert.

Who seems to be a Mr. Big Wannabe.

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And that's it for this time. When I ended the last update, Nigella had just been born. She is the daughter of the Repo Man; she and her daddy will show up in the next recap. Which will probably be when I finish the challenge, then I can put together a fancy family tree showing all the kids and their fathers.

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Part 7: "Who's Your Daddy?"

2009-05-17T20:25:50Z

Uh oh, I made a cover slide. I guess that means I'm serious about this now.

Or, I was really bored the other night at 2 AM...

Almost halfway done!

Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Baby 'M'	by	Blind Date, Cooper Seifert

Welcome to this exciting episode of "Who's Your Daddy?" Staring.....

The Awesome Son of Bigfoot

Zen Child of the Wise Old Man

Hyper Llama-Mascot-Offspring

Creepy-Bartender's Daughter

Voodoo Baby

The Mommy

Clueless Spouse

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"Uh, this isn't a dictionary. It's Mom's diary..."

"Bigfoot?!"

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And we begin with a birthday. This time it's for Lupine, the son of Twikkii Island's Witch Doctor...

And, as expected, he's absolutely the most adorably cutest thing evar.

Lupine is a Cancer personality....
7 cute neat points
4 cute shy points
8 cute active points
6 cute playful points
7 adorable nice points

And he adorably learned all his skills. Very cutely, too.

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*snarf*gobble*munch*slurp*

*snarf*gobble*munch*slurp*

*SNARF*GOBBLE*MUNCH*SLURP*

o____o For not being related to him, some of these kids really are Chase's.
Speaking of Chase...

The car was put into Chase's inventory, so there was room on the driveway for the obstacle course. Because he's got a couple of days off and needs a few more body points before he can top his career.

Besides an attic, the house also has an inaccessible basement where I'm storing all these (huge) career rewards. I really didn't plan ahead when I picked this place out of the bin.
You know.... if one of my neighbors put this in their driveway, then spent the next 12 hours running through it with a lightbulb helmet on... I would move.

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"Mom! Cripes, what the heck?"

"Ohmygawd, you're pregnant AGAIN?!"

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The next day Chase manages to top his fourth career! So this means he's been a Rock God, a Celebrity Chef, a Game Designer, and now a General. I'm not sure what kind of university degree you need to qualify for all those jobs. o__0

Kaffir Lily seems impressed.

But it's really because she just brought home that A+.

A few minutes later, inside the house....

"Babe, seriously... Does the shop ever close? I mean, I love all the kids, but this is starting to border on ridiculous now..."

"Ohmygosh! Dad's an astronaut?!"

"Holy crap! Dad's an astronaut!"

*headdesk* Not skintone 4. This makes the third time. *sigh* Well, it's a baby boy, named Mulberry (ugh, this naming theme is tough). He's got his daddy's brown hair, and gray eyes from both Brigit and his daddy. (Who was Brigit's Matchmaker date, Cooper Seifert.)

Moments later, 6PM rolls around and it's time for a double growing-up...

Jasmine and Lupine... "I'm gonna grow up and be an astronaut like my daddy!"
Well, I guess that's more realistic than aspiring to be a Witch Doctor, like his real daddy.

And they both look remarkably like their fathers.
I can confirm that about Lupine, because after Brigit met him I sorta sent someone else to that lot, then made the Witch Doctor selectable and took him to the mirror. I tried to get a look at his face legally... while Brigit was there, I had her 'influence' him to bathe, hoping he would remove the mask in the tub. But apparently it's a waste of time (and influence points), because he totally ignores the request. Anyway....

Later that night I realized there were more than a couple of stacked-up homework piles...

Um, Hawthorne... I don't think you want to be copying off of Jasmine's homework...

She's still a little behind.

"Great. I should have known the capitol of Germany was not 'pony'."

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First day of school for the Voodoo Child! I love how they look so happy when they get on the school bus. I don't recall ever beaming like that when I went to school.

Anyway, we got the "pay your bills or else" notice this morning. So it looks like the Repo Man will be coming around tomorrow. Since Brigit is not pregnant at the moment, we'll wait for whatever Mystery Repo Man the game sends to collect our dues. In the meantime, I decided to send Brigit Downtown to look for some of those Baby-Daddies-To-Be that she hasn't met yet. First stop: Crypt-O Night Club...

I should mention that I enabled ACR... and these three gentlemen decended on her right away. The fellow in the orange vest is Ashley Pitts from Sim State University. He dropped out of Uni (yeah, I never got around to changing his adult clothes) and lives in the neighborhood now. But, despite his efforts, Brigit really can't be getting funky with him. For reasons I will reveal later. So it's off to FM, and try our luck there...

JACKPOT! All three of the men I was looking for: Mr. Big, The Slob, and a Grand Vampire. Well, I spent the afternoon making sure Brigit got them all into her relationship panel. Mr. Big and The Slob were especially interested in her. As you can see...

When The Slob got his turn with her, he flirted a few times then said, "I know someone you would really get along with! Do you want to meet him?" 0__0 Seems kinda counter-intuitive... to offer the woman you are trying to charm back to your trailer, a blind date with some other guy. But hey, it's an opportunity to maybe get another one on The List...

Then stuff happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to get any good photos. And I was panicking. But basically....
As soon as her date started with the old guy The Slob set her up with....

I heard that dreaded *crack-boing* and was freaking out because I thought Chase might have wandered onto the lot at the wrong moment. To my relief it was the bartender! Kaffir Lily's father... I totally forgot he works here. Ugh, well, at least he already made his "donation" to the cause. Poor Alvin, though. He has phone-stalked Brigit since she was a teen; finally had his wildest dreams come true; then this. Hm, oh well. I gave up trying to get that date out of the hole, and just sent Brigit home before something else happened...

At least I got the date out of "flaming bag of poo" range...

And now Alvin comes around every day to take the newspaper. And when there's not a newspaper, he simply stands there glaring up at the house. Twenty times a day... This is the stalky'est guy I've ever seen.

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Whew, okay, back to "normal"... That night it's time to get Mulberry toddler'fied. Hawthorne does the honors... This is his last family duty, because he's heading off to Uni in the morning.

Mulberry is a Sagittarius...
3 sloppy
4 shy
10 active
10 playful
7 nice

Just needs a change of hair...

Aaaand... [insert something witty and/or profound here]

Okay, there was one more thing Hawthorne had to do that night... He is a Romance Sim after all. And really needed his Aspiration boosted before going off to college...

Why is it always raining in my game when they leave for Uni?

So, Hawthorne becomes a member of the Adult Kids' in the neighborhood, and his photo is added to my wall o' kids. This is my sorta-secret project. I'm hoping by the end, there will be a photo there for every kid born into this challenge. I think I might need a bigger wall...

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Goodness. I guess if Kaffir Lily ever turns up missing, I'll know to check the attic first.

The Repo Man is due this morning sometime...

Excellent! Sunshine is back! And Brigit is not pregnant! And dang, he's working the early shift today; it's 6:45 in the morning.

So "Sunshine" zapped some of their stuff, and I clicked the Tombstone. WHEW... Now they can start paying the bills and I don't have to worry about this anymore.

And it occurs to me that I'm never going to get twins if I always keep 7 people in the house.

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I always forget that Jasmine has only one nice point, until I see her duping her little brother.

Iris just sort of goes about her Zen-like existence in the background. She's at least a great help with Mulberry.

Kaffir Lily... when I go looking for her, she's always doing something photo-worthy. Right now, though, she needs to drop anchor, get downstairs and grow up...

She really likes pink.
So, the very first thing Kaffir Lily does after becoming a teen....

Is release a toxic cloud into the room.

"Gross! That is so disgusting!"

"Hm? What's that, Lupine? You want me to fan some of this over there?"

"Ha ha! Did you see him run away? Wasn't that awesome, Iris?"
"Ugh... I'm not hearing you."

Oh boy. Well, let me take Kaffir Lily to a mirror and try to make her a little more feminine. Somehow... Maybe find some hair and makeup that emphasize her 'good' features....

Wow. Not too bad!

Oookay.... I tried.

OMG She's like the most freakishly obnoxious teenage girl ever!

I love her. :D
Despite that noogie, Jasmine and Kaffir became BFFs in record time. Probably due to those mutual single-nice-points....

"Hey Iris, you have such pretty blond hair... Let me have a closer look..."

"Ack! Stop... it... owww! Kaffir, do something to her! Ouch!"
"Hm.... I'm not hearing you."

"Who's the good puppy? Yesh, yoo'z da good puppy!"

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It's time for the pup -er, Mulberry to explode into childhood....

"Oh my gawd! Where did that come from?!"

"Nice hourglass, Mulberry."

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*SNARF*GOBBLE*MUNCH*

*SHLUURRP*

She makes me wonder how many neat points her father has...

Then he went and answered that for me. Alvin still comes around to steal the newspaper every day, but he's never knocked over the garbage bin. Because he's too happy to just rummage in it for food.

And, of course, he stalks past every hour or so.... I wonder if he has any idea that's his freaky daughter who just got on the school bus.

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Anyway, the rest of the kids are on their way to the bus, too....

And General Beckett is finger-gunning his way out to the carpool. Which leaves Brigit completely alone in the house for the first time since she first moved in....

And that lasted all of 5 minutes....

Okay, so she's not "completely" alone. And yes, I'm giving up those 5 points to have Remington around. If you lived with Kaffir Lily, you would too.

Anyway, time for the hard-earned Repo Man's baby...

FINALLY! Skintone 4! Thank you, Sunshine! She also has her daddy's brown eyes and black hair. I named her Nigella.

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"Oh no! Is that a.... a wrinkle?!"

Ooo, yeah, I need to keep a closer eye on Brigit's life meter. She's really getting up there...

But fortunately Chase brought a friend home from work today.
I've started making use of the Cowplant for its potent anti-aging milk. I always forget about making Brigit and Chase use the Elixer, and the Cowplant has a way of "reminding" me...

Which is why Blossoming Acres now has the Milkweed Cemetery.

So, this means I am officially at the halfway mark. Plus one.
The next update will be a who's-who-and-who's-their-daddy sort of thing. And you'll get a peek at all the kids who have grown up already.

I leave you with the current Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Mulberry	by	Blind Date, Cooper Seifert
Nigella	by	Repo Man, "Sunshine"

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I swear... she's like a one-woman freak show.

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Part 6: Who's Your Daddy?

2009-05-13T20:04:25Z

My adventures in baby-making continue. I've been sitting on this update for a week now, and I'm only just now getting around to (getting the time and/or inclination to) putting some words to it. In case you need reminding, this is the Who's Your Daddy Challenge, in which one Sim woman is attempting to have 26 pregnancies by 26 different fathers.
All without her husband finding out what's going on...

*facepalm* Oh, real smooth, Brigit! At least Chase seems to think you're joking.

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SO, the Baby-and-Daddy Tally so far:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Baby 'J'	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor

Baby 'J' was born right after the last update. So let's have a look at the kids living in the house right now....

Baby 'J' is another girl. Her name is Jasmine (surprise) and she's got skintone 3, brown hair from her Llama daddy, and gray eyes. I was really hoping for skintone 4, since that seems to be eluding me so far. Anyway, with 6 kids in the house, it's officially full again...

"Dogwood, sweetie... I need you to move to college so I can get pregnant."
"Mom? You just had a baby..."
"Go. To. College."

So that's what he did. And dangit! I did get a screen shot of the scholarships he was awarded (he got 3: scholar's grant, art stipend, and footwork award) but I lost it when I accidentally copied over it... because I was distracted...

By Chase coming home at that exact moment with a promotion to the top of his second career.

Which means he took the first job that started the next morning. Since Brigit needs some time alone in the house for making baby 'K'.

While Chase is on his way out the door, she's upstairs inviting her old friend Alvin Wong over. He's a bartender from Downtown who's been stalking her since she was a teen (yeah, that's not creepy at all). He was so eager to finally get an invite, that he used the shortest affirmation blurb the game offers. And I'm pretty sure he was ringing the doorbell (out of breath) before Brigit made it back down the stairs....

But what's important is it only took one try to get a lullaby. In fact, Alvin was so eager, I think it happened before they were barely under the covers. Hey, as long as it results in a baby, I don't care how premature the tintinnabulation is.

(what? ... look it up)

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I would like to point out that Hawthorne, Son of Bigfoot, Terror of Toddlers, and Mean Kid Extraordinaire, is the only one in the house right now who actually uses the ballet barre. That's real tough, 'Thorne. I <3 you.

I would also like to point out that Chase has made me <3 him, too... because he's quite possibly the best Sim father I've ever had in the game. And none of these kids are even his.

Anyway, I got the "one day to Iris's birthday" pop-up, but she was lacking a toddler skill at that point, so I put off the actual growing up until the next morning before the school bus came around...

Notice Brigit putting baby Jasmine on the floor so she can watch Iris grow up....

Notice that she FAILED...

A lot.

Anyway, Iris is a cutey pie. I'm guessing she's got all of her (Wise Old Man) father's face, except those slanty eyes are definitely Brigit's.

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Uh... Not even close, hon. D:
And I had to look at my notes, because even I couldn't remember who the father is this time. (oh right, the eager bartender)

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Poor Geraldton Wax... I always forget he's even in the house! He's such a sweet teen, though. Iris is especially fond of him, and asks him to read to her every day. But I have to break up this Kodak moment, because someone needs to get to that cake...

With adult siblings Dogwood, Clover, and Buttercup in attendance, Euphorbia takes charge of the tossing and grows Baby Jasmine into Toddler Jasmine...

And she's a female clone of her llama father! (except for the annoying lack of skintone 4)

She's a Scorpio..
7 neat
5 outgoing
9 active
4 serious
1 nice (of course)

Aaand, I have a toddler skills montage, just to prove that I'm not failing yet... Though I did miss the actual doodad for Jasmine learning to talk. But she remembers it, by golly!

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"Arrgh! Why the hell is that freakin Townie kid always here!"
"Gah! Sorry, mom! I won't bring him home tomorrow!"

"Mom, look! Look, mom! Mom! I have an A+, mom! Mom! Look! Mom! Mooommm!"

*KACHING* The Want to Have 10 Children: fulfilled.

"Mooommm looook. Mom?"
*jubilant sounds from out by the mailbox* "Woo! Mom! Hey, mom!"

"Mom! Where are you? Mom, look! Mom! Look, mom! Mooommm!"

Of course Iris had to bring home an A+ today, as well. There's a traffic jam in the doorway, so Brigit had to put the baby down to come over to Iris...

FAIL

"I can stop having babies now, right?"

Ugh. Sorry, hon. But there's a long way to go yet.
Anyway, after all of that craziness, there's a new baby girl in the house, named Kaffir Lily. Skin 3 like her daddy, brown hair like her daddy, and light blue eyes... like her daddy.

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The birth of another baby means another teen gets shuffled off to college. This time I managed to save the screen-shot of Euphorbia's scholarships.

And since there's another empty space in the house, it's time for Brigit to get pregnant again...

On Twilkkii Island.
You know... that is the same Tour Guide from Takemizu Village. The one with the creepy white eyes. Which I think is why he kept them closed the whole time Brigit was here.

Anyway, Tour Guide aside, Brigit is on her way to see someone else...

The Witch Doctor.
But before I can use the Tombstone of L&D to make her pregnant by him, he has to give her the Voodoo Doll...

Though I was afraid we had arrived just a moment too late! Fortunately he survived, and Brigit offered to fix all of his broken appliances for him. She got that done quick enough...

Then the Witch Doctor unveiled his impressive package, and Brigit got pregnant soon after.
(I'm going to run out of double entendres at some point.)

Deed done. Time to head back home...

Dude, you're not fooling anyone!

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A day or so later, it's time for a triple birthday. Kaffir Lily will become a toddler, Jasmine will become a kid, and finally, Hawthorne will become a teen.

"Hey Goopy! Stay away from my sisters, 'k?"
So of course the older kids were invited over; finger-gunning and heart-farting their way onto the lot... Jeez, Aster, the Gypsy? Whoa, ohmygosh the Gypsy!

FINALLY! I thought she'd never bring that thing around! Thank goodness. Now I can get that Genie baby! But there's other things to take care of first, so the lamp is saved for another day...

At 6PM sharp, Hawthorne and Jasmine take their spins...

Hawthorne! :D That is the most perfect outfit for his bad-ass self!

And he's not bad looking. At all. But he went and made me squee again because he rolled Romance! And....

His Lifetime Want is to become a Rock God! *hyperventilate*
Okay, I officially love Hawthorne.

So... apparently when I had Chase "greet all" earlier, that included Goopy. I didn't even notice he was in the house until I spotted him sitting there talking to Iris. At this point I was trying to get someone to fetch Kaffir Lily out of her crib and bring her to the cake. But all the older kids were crammed into the crib cubby trying to get to her to feed her a bottle. After about 2 Sim hours of "calling over" to get them out of the cubby, trying to stop them from going straight back into the cubby, and total hair-ripping frustration, I finally had Chase say goodbye to "everyone" just to get them out of the way!

Kaffir Lily made it to her cake around 10PM. Sheesh.

And she's a female clone of her father. She's also a Sagittarius...

0 sloppy (that's ZERO, folks)
10 outgoing (lordy)
9 active (ugh)
10 playful (oh joy)
1 mean (omg)

I don't know whether to love or fear this child.

She learned all her toddler skills... said Dr. Obvious. Seriously, did she get any genetics from Brigit? Maybe the ears...

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By the way, Brigit still has a job, she just never goes to it. Not since topping the career. On days when she's not pregnant, I can just cancel "go to work" out of her queue, and she gets paid for that day anyway. Even using vacation days like that, she never has less than 20 left! It will be interesting to see how many she has in the end. I think there should be points awarded for unused vacation days. ;D

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Oh yeah, I guess I sort of overlooked Jasmine on her birthday because Hawthorne blew my mind. She's really cute...

And she's a perpetual motion machine! Not since Clover has there been a kid this active in the house, and Jasmine could easily run circles around Clover.

And she sometimes makes herself sick with all the jumping and twirling and spinning and cart-wheeling and running and swinging and bouncing and sliding and skipping and tumbling. *urgh* I get nauseated just watching her.

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With Geraldton Wax being the oldest kid in the house now, he's no longer forgotten. The younger kids literally line up to interact with him...

Though, some of the interactions are less than adoring...

And the day I saw Iris walking through the house like this....

I knew who she was after! (that's right, not Chase)

LOL! I'm pretty sure he's faking it for her amusement. But this was the first time I've ever seen that static shock interaction.

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"Oh my gawd! It's the Social Bunny!"

"What? I thought the Social Bunny was just a horrible rumor..."

"The hell?! You're cheating, Hawthorne! Do you think I'm stupid?!"

Uh, hm. Maybe Chase isn't as naive as he seems....

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Saturday morning. And the teen boys are being so cliché by sleeping-in well past daylight...

Perpetual Motion Jasmine is out on the playground with her older "sister", and kindred spirit, Clover.

All the kids who have already grown up are here today. In case you need reminding, from left to right around the table is: Dogwood, Euphorbia, Buttercup, and Aster...

Foxglove is here, too. He's usually missing from photos because the first thing he does when he enters the house, is break the kitchen faucet. So someone influences him to "repair", and he spends the rest of his visit fixing faucets and plunging toilets.

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UGH! I missed it by less than half a day this time! I'll get you next time, Really-Hawt Repo Guy. o_o Tell Sunshine I said "hi"...

Little Orlando whats-his-name looks like he's about to run straight home and tell his dad what he just saw happen at the Beckett house...
"Is that so, boy? So, the Becketts ain't so high-and-mighty after all! Can't pay their bills. Hah! Figures, with the baby factory they're running. Like freakin rabbits. Weirdos.... Good job, son. Now get your dad a beer."

Speaking of baby factory... That night the Becketts' dinner was interrupted by Brigit screeching obscenities...

Hawthorne, for all his meanness and tough-guy attitude, seemed genuinely worried. Jasmine, on the other hand, was really effing pissed-off about this...

Really.
But, now we have baby boy Lupine in the family! He's got skin 3, black hair, and gray eyes. All like his dad, the Witch Doctor, who I am sure has face two. So this should be a cute kid. *yawn*

"Gosh. Is that where babies come from? That's not what Hawthorne said... and that didn't look like any box I've ever seen..."

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That same night, Chase (bless him!) tops his third career. And we finally have someone in the house who can cook something other than spaghetti.

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The Slap Dance: bane of my existence.
Geraldton Wax got a haircut! That shaggy mess he had before made him look squirrelly. And I kept wanting to call him 'Aster'.

Now that all the kids are presentable, it's time for another headmaster visit and a double birthday.
This time they got Headmaster Vince. And it was a much more "normal" visit than the last one.

Except for Brigit heartfarting Vince every three steps. Sheesh, woman! ... I guess after Headmaster Korey, Vince is really some hot stuff?

After the tour; the floor show... Both Jasmine and Kaffir Lilly take their spins....

Kaffir Lily looks more and more like her father (the eager bartender) every birthday. Seriously, did Brigit have anything to do with making this kid?

And Iris gets prettier with every birthday.

And Vince left a happy guy. All the kids made it into private school.... that's 10 so far. Here's hoping we get Headmaster BJ next time.

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The next morning I made Geraldton Wax apply for his scholarships before he left for school. I'll move him to college from the Sim State 'hood after the bus leaves.

Notice Chase on the computer back there... he's getting a new job. The first one that happens to start that morning....

Which is the military. I need him out of the house so Brigit can get busy making baby 'M'.

I decided to use a Blind Date from the Matchmaker this time. Oh, heh, that's Brigit's carpool there. That poor guy sits there every day, blowing the horn. Waiting. But hey, how hard can his job be? He gets to drive a freakin Maserati. Anyway, Brigit paid full price for this, because I need some chemistry between them...

Jackpot! Skintone 4 and not face two! His name is Cooper.

Okay... it's 10AM and Chase is due home at 2PM. I really want Brigit to get this relationship up to the point of "try for baby" before the date is over. So I put a photo booth on the lot...

Sure enough, that option was there before they were in love.... I managed to get the relationship up really fast (those 3 bolts helped), but it's now 1:30 and they are only just now trying for the lullaby!

And of course it didn't take. Ugh... by then Chase was about to arrive home, so I had Brigit end the date (because goodness knows Chase will know there's a date going on even if she and Cooper are at opposite ends of the lot from each other) and Cooper wandered inside to use the facilities.

Chase came home with a promotion, and when I checked his new work schedule I realized I could send him back to work immediately! This bought Brigit another hour with Cooper...

So back into the photo booth they went. And this time they got a lullaby...
WHEW.

And this is where I will leave you. The next update with be the half-way point. That shouldn't take too long...

Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Jasmine	by	Llama Mascot, Payton Taylor
Kaffir Lily	by	NPC Bartender, Alvin Wong
Lupine	by	Witch Doctor, on Twikkii Island
Baby 'M'	by	Blind Date, Cooper Seifert

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"Who the... ? Where did he come from? Oh please, don't let the next kid have that face..."

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Have a cigar: Who's Your Daddy? part 5

2009-05-03T04:29:21Z

Dang, I've got more of this challenge done already. You would think I don't have anything better to do late at night when I'm so exhausted I can barely pour myself a glass of wine. Anyway, I tried to stop taking photos of every little thing that happens in the house, and just concentrate on getting babies born. So this might be a lot of baby-bumps and toddler-skill pictures. Because aren't those exciting?

Now it's time to head back to Blossoming Acres, and take a look at the babies and daddies so far...

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Baby 'H'	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan

Only 8?! It feels more like 28 at this point...

"Dear ~~Webster's Dictionary~~ Diary,
My mother has lost her marbles. And not just the swirly ones, but the cool sparkly ones as well. I keep trying to tell her that maybe the maid took them... Anyway, besides that, she's acting totally insane about this whole 'moar baybeez nao' thing. And the fact that she actually speaks in lolcat is a little worrying. Her growing list of unusual genetic donors scares me, too. I fear the next time I hear from her, she'll tell me I've become pregnant by the garden Gnome..."

omg... I wonder if that's possible. Anyway, it's time to get this show on the road. Then put the pedal to the metal and get it up to NASCAR speed. First, an oh-so-quick recap of the kids in the house right now...
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Buttercup is the daughter of Pater the Servo. Don't get to used to looking at her again, because she's about to leave for College.

Clover, is the result of Chase getting abducted. Since turning teen, she has done nothing but ride that damned bike. She's the only Sim I've ever had who actually obsesses about their predestined hobby.

Dogwood, the son of a Plantsim, is a Popularity/Family Sim who wants to become a Hall of Famer. He's also got the best, non-template face so far. Not to mention pointy ears. And a cute smile. And those squishy cheeks I just want to pinch!

Euphorpia is the daughter of Ghost Pirate Captain Edward Dregg, who lives on the old shipwreck at Twikkii Island. She's also the meanest kid born in the house so far. I guess that's what happens when one's father is an angry poltergeist.

Geraldton Wax (not picutred... because he's an infant) is the son of a zombie named Hun. So his personality remains to be seen...

And, of course, the mother of all these kids...

Brigit. Who, seems to be handling it quite well... By the way, I don't think I've mentioned that she has her husband's last name, because I liked it so much... Brigit Beckett.

Chase (Beckett), her dear husband. Who remains blissfully unaware that most of these kids aren't his. I don't see how he would suspect anything... they look just like him, after all. o__o

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SO, let's get on with this... Gosh, it seems like Euphorbia was born only yesterday! (and, at the rate I've been playing, it might have actually been yesterday)

(spot Clover in her workout clothes... guess what she was just doing)
(notice that Buttercup is suffering from the dreaded affliction, Chess Elbow... )

Normally I'd let Euphorbia keep that outfit (snork), but she IS the daughter of an ancient, dead pirate, after all...

So she gets a pirate outfit. And a little mascara. Lovely.

Euphorbia rolled Fortune, and her Lifetime Want is to become a Business Tycoon. (which I think is code for "privateer")

Four teens in the house is at least one teen too many, so Buttercup (being the oldest) calls and collects the scholarships coming to her.... Too bad there isn't a grant for those handicapped by horrible glitches like Chess Elbow, Dance Face, and Torso Teddy Bear...

Buttercup then leaves for Sim State. And a difficult life of one-armed animations...

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The next evening, or somewhere there-abouts, it's time to bring the forgotten infant downstairs and age him up to a toddler... who will most likely also be forgotten...

But, for the offspring of a zombie, Geraldton Wax is awful cute!

Personality: Cancer...
8 neat
4 shy
4 lazy
6 playful
10 nice

I do wish he didn't have red hair...

Because he looks way too much like he could be his oldest brother's son. Speaking of Aster...

He's at the house almost every day. Along with Buttercup... who appears to have found help for her Chess Elbow. They tend to spend all their time in the awesome "hang out" room I built for the family teens. But the teens have yet to discover it even exists...

They like to hang out in the toddler area all the time...

Oh that's right! There's a toddler in the house! So, Geraldton Wax learned all his skills... somehow.

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Now, if everyone recalls, Brigit is currently pregnant with Bigfoot's baby. I'm guessing it won't be hairy... But wouldn't that be cool?!

Skintone one! He also got his father's genetic black hair and brown eyes. Keeping with the "flowering plants theme" I'm using to name all the kids, this little guy is called Hawthorne.

It will be very interesting to see him as a toddler...

Toddler... Oh crap that's right! There's a toddler in the house... or, there was...

omg Geraldton Wax is a real boy! And he looks remarkably like his zombie father (who has the Remington Harris face), except he managed to get Brigit's cute nose.

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With 4 (mostly) self-sufficiant older kids, and one infant in the house, it's time for Brigit to get pregnant again...

On vacation. Again. She's still got maps to two more secret lots...

This time I decided it would be the Wise Old Man. Who is named...uh, Wise Old Man. Oh look, Remington Harris's face again. Joy.

Having done this a few times with other Sims, I know the drill. First, serve the old man tea....

Then get right to the point.

Learning the Dragon Legend from him will seal the deal...

And the Tombstone brings a lullaby.

Of course that took less than a single afternoon, so Brigit heads back home before the morning sickness sets in. That's a curious way to carry a suitcase... but, oh... I think she's really just trying to avoid looking at that Tour Guide!

O___O

*violently scratches 'Tour Guide' off The List!*

Back home, the older kids are doing a fine job of watching after the younger ones...

Though Euphorbia needs to work on her carry technique... That's more suited for a running back than a mother...

Speaking of mother... Brigit's pregnancies are getting progressively more difficult. It used to be she never got sick, but now she throws up more and more often.

Chase thinking: "I try to be nice by making spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast, and she acts like it's gonna kill her..."

Chase is kinda having a difficult time right now...

Because, for gosh sakes, he saw roaches. I tried to get him to pick that garbage up 3 times (so the roaches would stop spawning!) but he'd drop it out of his queue each time so he could cry like a little girl. This went on all afternoon!

For gosh sakes, man! I can't send Brigit out to do this, because she can't risk getting the flu! Gah...

He spent the rest of that evening staring out the window at the place where he had seen... THEM... while chugging down several highballs worth of 'juice'...

It didn't erase the memory, but it made him forget...

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Anyway... Clover.... This morning I had to stop her from getting on the exercise bike and get her some Aspiration points so she can go to college. She's another one who always has the want to learn Couple's Counseling lately. So that's what she got... then she got sent on her way...

Gah. She would have had 4 scholarships if her grades had not slipped down to a B+...

It turns out the other kids have more than a couple of homework notebooks stacked up, too. Better get on that...

"Geometry... killing me... room... spinning..."
*eyeballs roll back into head*

But, despite Euphorbia feigning death every 5 minutes, the teens got caught up... and Geraldton Wax learned to study.

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Oh crap, noooo! Brigit is still pregnant! I miscalculated this by one day. UGH. It's going to take some careful timing to get a Repo Man baby.

Keep smiling, Sunshine. You'll be back.

Euphorbia, being the Fortune Sim in the house, is the most upset by the loss of that toilet. That I replaced immediately... and everyone gathered around and went "Nazz!" *fist pump* despite it being exactly like the old one. Anyway...

It's Bigfoot toddler time! And to remind you what my Bigfoot Zeeshan looks like...

That's some nose he's got. And some cheekbones... and some brow ridge.

Hawthorne, however, is adorable!

He's also a Pisces:
4 sloppy
10 outgoing
9 active
4 serious
1 mean

Ooo, a potential terror.

And, like all the toddlers before him, Hawthorne learned his skills.

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So, time marches on, and the kids do their kid-thing.
Except for me telling them to do homework every once in a while, they are pretty much completely left to their own devices.

Um... *checks notes* Oh yeah! That's Geraldton Wax. Poor kid. I can't seem to find anything exciting to say about him. He's just so even-keeled and merrily goes about his existence in the background.

o___o
*checks notes again* Oh yeah! The Wise Old Man's baby...

... Is a girl! With skintone 3, brown eyes, and blond hair. Finally a blondie! I named her Iris. (oh thank plumbbob it was a girl! Otherwise there would be a boy running around named Iris...)

With the birth of Iris, there are 7 people in the house... room for one more. Brigit needs to get pregnant right now. I'm weary of vacation...

Chase is still working his way up the Gamer career path, and while he's on his way out to the carpool, Brigit calls up an old college friend...

Payton Taylor, the Llama.
Honestly, Brigit has two llama mascots on her phone list, and I couldn't remember which one was which. Luckily, I blindly picked the right one! Because the other one, I think, has the Remington Harris face...

And, of course, there was no lullaby the first try. So they tried again...

And again. And again. And again!
In the end it took 5 tries! All I can figure is that Payton must have been a little *ahem* "nervous"...

Anyway, this turned into an all day affair (lol pun), but thank goodness there are other people in the house who can autonomously take care of the young ones...

Euphorbia keeps little Iris stuffed to the gills with formula...

Aster is here (always) and keeps Geraldton Wax occupied...

"... it's a technique that works on every woman."
"Ugh, Aster, I'm only nine. Can we have this talk when I'm 15?"

While Buttercup obsessively carries Hawthorne around...

And Dogwood... uh, okay, Dogwood was "busy" with other things....

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Soon enough it's time for a double birthday. Tonight: a baby becomes a toddler, and a toddler becomes a kid.

First up is baby Iris, the daughter of the Wise Old Man who taught Brigit the Dragon Legend...

Iris is a Taurus:
6 neat
6 outgoing
3 lazy
6 playful
6 nice

That's an almost Zen-like personality. The hair has to change, though...

A few moments later, Hawthorne takes his leap into childhood....

And Geraldton Wax takes a leap for joy! Holy smokes. I'm not sure I've ever seen a kid jump quite so high. He's obviously thrilled about having someone his age around to play with. There have been nothing but teens in the house since he became a kid. Poor forgotten G.W...

Anyway, Hawthorne has a lovely mix of Brigit's and Bigfoot's facial features. Though I see some crazy cheekbones in the making there...

Little Iris learned all of those important toddler skills. Because goodness knows she won't be able to walk, talk, or use the toilet when she's older if she doesn't learn them now.

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"Aw, you want the pretty pony? Too bad you can't reach the pretty pony... I guess you'll never get to have it then!"

As expected, Hawthorne is quite the terror. His day is not fulfilled until he's made Iris cry with his incessant teasing.

"Gawd, Hawthorne! Why do you have to be so darned mean all the time?! She's just a baby! It makes you look like a total jerk when you pick on a baby!"

"Oh my gosh, G.W, you're right! You have made me see the error of my ways and I vow to become a better Sim from now on."

"Wow 'Thorne, really?"

"Aw heck no! I'm kidding! Just wait until we're both teens, G.W; I'm gonna noogie a bald spot on your head!"

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Really, these two get along beautifully. Best friends right out of the gate.

I do believe him about that noogie thing, though...

However, it's going to be a while before Hawthorne can act on that threat...

Except for Brigit's nose, Geraldton Wax has all of his father's features. He rolled Family, with the LTW to reach his Golden Anniversary. And I love it when they grow up into an outfit that totally suits their personality! (and matches their hair!)

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Aaand, since this is a full update already, the Llama's baby will have to wait until next time. But hey, I managed to get in three toddler birthdays, two births, plus another one on the way in just one update... whew.

Baby-and-Daddy Tally:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Hawthorne	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan
Iris	by	Wise Old Man, in Takemizu Village
Baby 'J'	by	(nervous) Llama, Payton Taylor

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It's true, ladies... Chase is so well toned, he can clench a guitar pick between the cheeks of his buttocks.

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Adorable Genetic Uniqueness: Who's Your Daddy? 4

2009-04-29T05:42:10Z

Okay... time to pick up the pace. I need more babies born per update! So this one is kinda picture-heavy (and word light) so I can get in as much as possible, and basically catch up to where I am in the game.

The Baby-and-Daddy Tally so far:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Baby 'E'	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg

And just to remind you what they look like...

Aster, son of Chase, got Brigit's red hair, skintone 2, and her gray eyes. He's a Family/Romance sim who seems to think he's going to marry off 6 kids of his own one day. Haha!

Buttercup, daughter of a Servo, also got her mom's skintone, eyes, and hair. Though she chose to age-up with a slightly different "shade" of red. She's a Popularity/Family sim who wants to have 20 best friends.

Clover, is of course the result of Chase getting abducted, but counts towards the 26 pregnancy requirement. She's a complete slob, but with maxed active and playful points, she never, ever. sits. STILL.

The forth and youngest child in the house, is the son of a Plantsim....

Dogwood! Who has the most adorably unique genetics, evar. <3

By the way, I swear I don't have a favorite. No matter what you may hear otherwise.

The mother of all these children (and many more children to come!) is Brigit; recently planted....
Aww, Dogwood kisses....

The last member of the household is Brigit's husband, Chase. Who, with 10 outgoing points, is seldom dressed. He might be one bead short of a necklace most of the time, but I have to commend Chase for being a very good "parent" to all these kids. There hasn't been one of them he wasn't best friends with by the time they had their kid birthday.

Peek-a-Boo Dogwood! Aww. <3 (I don't have a favorite!)

SO, picking up where we left off last time...
Aster checks his pulse.
Brigit goes to her Happy Place.

... Then the birth of Ghost Pirate Captain Edward Dregg's baby!

"Awesome! It's a baby!"
"Go Team Baby! Huzzah!"
"WEE-YOO! BAY-BEEEEE!"

(trust me, they all start to lose their enthusiasm as this challenge wears on)
So, looking like every other baby ever born, we have another girl in the house. She has skintone 2, her daddy's brown hair, and his light blue eyes. Not gray, finally!

And, keeping with the ridiculous naming theme I chose, this little blossom is named Euphorbia. Which is a genus of flowering plants that include cacti and other succulents. It's also just about the only 'E' name that even comes close to being appropriate for the daughter of a pirate captain that died 300 years ago. Arrr!

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Aster has had the Want to learn Couple's Counseling since the day he turned into a kid. And if it disappears off his want panel, it always rolls back up when another baby is born. I suspect he suspects what no one else suspects is suspiciously going on around here... He needs to get a clue about proper hygiene, though.

"What.. the.. hell...?"

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Oh my gosh, I need to draw everyone's attention to this screen capture image, because a celebration is in order! ...Are you looking? Good! Because Dogwood has gained a point of Creativity Skill by drawing on the activity table! *confetti!*

Well, at least one person in the house appreciates Chase.
"Daddy, did you bring me a pony?"
"Uh, no sweetie, I just got off a Learjet after a gig in Vegas, and ponies don't fit in the overhead compartment."
"Okay. But bring a pony back next time, or you might never see your Rock Hammer again. I love you!"

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Monday. The kids are at school. Dogwood is playing with blocks. Chase is... I don't know where Chase is. But there's no point in putting this off any longer! One of the "births" allowed is a plant baby pollinated into existence by the mother...
That looks... well, lets just say I wish I could do that...

And just like that, we have ~~baby~~ toddler 'F' in the family. It's a boy, named Foxglove.

He's a Pisces...
6 neat
4 shy
8 active
6 playful
10 nice

No elf ears, but he's gonna have some awesome cheekbones!

Since plant babies come prepackaged with all their toddler skills, the only thing Brigit could teach Foxglove is the nursery rhyme. Then he was unceremoniously hoisted upstairs, put under a sun lamp, and given the Bunny Head,. See you in 3 days, kid.

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That afternoon a few things happened... First Clover brought home an A+...

Then at 6PM, Dogwood sprang into kid-hood....

OMG <3

About an hour later, Buttercup brought the Ghost Pirate Baby to the birthday cake...

And that's when she became the Dread Toddler Euphorbia!

She's a Gemini...
5 neat
9 outgoing
9 active
4 playful
1 mean

Yep.

Then, over the course of the next few days, learned all her skills. (which, apparently, didn't happen in that order)

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Well, this is a mess. There are so many people in the house, I can't ~~follow~~ watch Dogwood all the time anymore! As a result, I just missed his "Learned to Study" doodad.

But this shows that the house is indeed full. Looks like there will be a brief lull in the action while the kids get old enough to move out.
("action" = bow-chicka-bow-wow)

Later that night, I decided I was tired of the house never moving on speed 3 because Brigit never sleeps. Pregnant Plantsims are also ridiculously easy. And that's kind of taking away some of the "challenge" for me...

So she got cured....
(has anyone else considered taking a photo of a Plantsim to a tattoo artist and saying, "I want this." No? Just me? uh... never mind)

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The morning routine has changed a bit for Clover since Dogwood became a kid. He's not a bed bouncer, so he always initiates a game of Mary Mack with her instead.

That afternoon, Dogwood continues the family tradition of bringing home an A+ that precedes a birthday in the evening...

Tonight it will be Plant-baby Foxglove and Clover (Euphorbia there still has a day to go). It's sad that I won't get to have him around as a kid and teen, because he was mostly ignored through the toddler days.

At 6PM the two green ones go into their spins...
Foxglove is thinking that Townie kid would look a lot better with Buttercup's head on her....

Clover grew up nicely! The dice gave her Family, and now she wants to have 6 grandchildren. o__0 Which is going to be a pain, considering the gender preference ACR gave her.

But, just to her left, Foxglove has grown up...

Into a fine, green man.

Aster: "What the hell?!"

Foxglove is a Pleasure sim, who wants to have 50 first dates. Gah.

And because I don't want to confuse Foxglove for Dogwood's Plant-father, Basil (the family tree in this neighborhood is going to be insane by the end), I gave him some normal clothes. He spent the night playing with his "older" sister, the Dread Toddler Euhporbia.

Then danced in the morning with Clover. Yeah. They aren't even related.

When the kids left for school, he left for the Great Unknown... which includes a motherloded mansion down the street where the other kids will join him when they get out of college.

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That night there was yet another birthday...

And the Ghost Pirate's daughter grew up to look (I assume) exactly like him. The pink isn't her... and I was so hoping she'd pick the pirate outfit on her own!

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Since there are now 5 kids eligible for private school, I decided it was time to get that done. Especially since Aster was getting close to adulthood.

This turned into one of those headmaster visits that border on insane. Not because anything bad happened... the tour went well - he was happy enough seeing only the downstairs. But it's when Brigit started to "schmooze" with him that made me drop my jaw. She got 20 points just for greeting him, which I've seen happen before, so I didn't think much of it. I guess that has something to do with maxed charisma and maybe nice points (or something totally different like zodiac). Anyway, every time she chatted with him, the score jumped up another 10 points!

Brigit didn't even get to serve dinner! When the score hit 90, Headmaster Korey left. With that smug-as-hell smile on his face. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he knows what's going to happen on his next visit. (Because, after all, the headmaster is on The List.)

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That night they got their first burglar. Unfortunately it's Jessica Ebadi. I really wanted Russ or Gordon, because they have all the right equipment for making a baby!

The inevitable battle happened at the top of the stairs. She lost...

"OH HAI cute kid with the adorably unique genetics! Maybe in 15 years, when you aren't mad at me anymore, we can be friends!"

o___O

Everyone reacted to the break-in a little differently....

Chase was mostly oblivious to what had just happened, and spent the rest of the early morning Smustling in the bathroom. As you can see, Dread Pirate Euphorbia is really pissed off about it (I feel sorry for Jessica if Euphorbia ever sees her on a community lot... 8 years old or not).

Buttercup broke down and sobbed about the violation. Aster reminded Clover that he used to be the meanest kid in the house before Euphorbia was born.

Dogwood decided to bake a muffin. And I want to point out that it came out perfect. In fact, Dogwood has never once burned a muffin! He's like... the perfect muffin boy, with adorably unique genetics.

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The weekend continued, pretty much as normal. Though, now that there are all older kids in the house, and Aster is about to move out, it's time to get the baby-making machine running again. Right now the problem is that Chase has way too many days off as a Rock God.

So, I made him quit his job, and take the first one in the paper that started that morning. Which happened to be the Gamer career...

While Chase was on his way to the carpool, Brigit called her old college buddy, Hun the zombie...

"Gussy up"? I wonder if for a zombie that involves duct tape and pop-sickle sticks .... ugh, ew.

I almost panicked when I didn't see "woohoo" as an option as they were relaxing. Then realized that was because they weren't in love yet. But one kiss fixed that....

Deed done. Tombstone clicked. Lullaby sounded. Baby G is on the way.

So what are the kids doing while their mother "entertains" the dead guy in the next room? (seriously, that must involve a system of wires and pulleys...)
I was a little concerned one of them would get mad about the cheating, but none of them seemed to notice. Buttercup has been playing guitar since morning (hence the pajamas), which means Aster was forced to play chess while waiting for his turn. Dogwood watches movies all the time.

And Clover works out constantly. I think because of her Activity points... but it's convenient because Fitness is her "hobby".

The Dread Pirate Euphorbia is really into sports, so she's always suckering someone into playing catch with her one nice point....

At least it gets Dogwood outside every once in a while.

And Clover manages at least one guaranteed scholarship for college.

I'm really wondering why they haven't gotten the Genie Lamp yet! Between all of them in the house, they have passes to almost every hobby lot. There are 3 (soon to be 4) hobby plaques on the wall. And you can see how diverse their hobby interests are. So where is my lamp?!

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Finally it's Monday, and really I should have sent Aster to college over the weekend. He's only 2 days to adult, but I wanted him to be able to wear that private school uniform at least once before he leaves. Also, I thought he should stick around for Dogwood's birthday tonight.

That afternoon, all 5 kids brought home a "friend" from school. Fuzzy is there because she came and rang the doorbell.

With so many people in the room, I had to use an aerial view to see Dogwood's sparkles!

Fuzzy gives the nod of approval.

Dogwood rolled Popularity (sigh) and has the Lifetime Want to become a Hall of Famer. Funny that! You would think he'd be completely turned off of baseball after being hit in the head so many times by Euphorbia.

"Oooo babe! Those are some uniquely hawt genetix!"

Nine out of ten Townie sluts agree that Dogwood helps promote ovulation!

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After all the guests are sent home, Aster calls to find out what scholarships he qualifies for... Considering the only thing I "help" the kids with is good grades, I think he did pretty good!
(gah, they need a computer so this is easier)

He called a cab, and flew away from the nest. *sob!*
But it's probably not the last we'll see of him. I do plan to keep the kids who move out connected with the family...

And while Aster's cab pulls away, Euphorbia learns to study.
She has no fear of keelhauling, plank walking, or being branded... but the Times Tables give her a headache.

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The next afternoon brings a zombie's baby into the family! This ought to go over well with the kids... and Brigit decided to have it in their bedroom...

The girls are totally nonplussed, while the men react in their usual manner: Chase thanking Plumbbob it's not him giving birth again; and Dogwood asking Plumbbob why it wasn't twins so he could have met two new people today.

Then the men proceed to stand in the way while the teenage girls try to get to the baby.

Anyway, it's a boy. He's got skintone 2 (sigh), red hair (yawn), and green eyes (yes!). Once again, I was faced with needing a boy's name in a world of feminine florals. So he was dubbed Geraldton Wax. After an Australian wildflower.

The Dread Pirate Euphorbia then rushed in with her A+.
Good thing, too. Because I was distracted by the baby-birthing and totally did not see her get off the bus!

Buttercup managed to snag Geraldton first, and headed downstairs for a bottle. While Chase let his wife know that he still finds her delicious...

"Ah gross! Get out of town with that!"

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And that's what they did.
With the teens home to care for the baby, Brigit needs to try and get another vacation pregnancy. Chase is coming along because both he and Brigit actually have the Want to go on vacation. And really, the guy deserves a break, too.

They are on their way to Three Lakes...

Where the next baby-daddy awaits in a cabin on a secret lot. His name is Zeeshan.

The criteria is that Brigit will need to get a "bigfoot hug" before I can cheat the pregnancy. I have very little experience with Bigfoot, and I have no idea how long that usually takes. So she and Chase will spend every day of their vacation here at Zeeshan's cabin...

Day One.
That is the only thing Chase did the whole time.

Day Two.
"Oh yeah, I found a big juicy one right here!"

Day Three.
"Hah! You guys can quit now, because I think I win!"

Day Four.
By the way, giving Bigfoot a cell phone, does not make it possible to call him later.

Day Five. (Wha... HEY!)
Okay, it took this long for me to realize there was something wrong with my Bigfoot. And since I have little experience with them, I didn't know this wasn't normal. By now Brigit and Zeeshan's relationship is at 100/100 and best friends. But he never tried to interact with her while she was on the lot. In fact, unless Brigit was interacting with him, he'd just stand there like his free will was turned off. I even sent Brigit out to fish for several hours on speed three, and Zeeshan never moved. Unless she invited him to join, or talked to him herself. That's when I decided something was amiss. So I turned on testingcheats and forced an error on him. Sure enough, he started acting "normal" right away! And the first thing he did...

Was impregnate Brigit!

0_0 ... maybe I should have chosen a different camera angle. (you know what they say about big feet...)

Anyway, Baby 'H' is now on the way! I'm sure we are all dying to know what a Bigfoot Baby looks like! But that's for next time.

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So here's the Baby-and-Daddy Tally so far:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Pollination-Technician (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Euphorbia	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg
Foxglove	by	Plant Spore, Brigit
Geraldton Wax	by	Zombie, Hun Reamon
Baby 'H'	by	Bigfoot, Zeeshan

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Plantsim Brigit demonstrates the "environmentally friendly" way to potty train your toddler.

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Going green! "Who's Your Daddy?" Part 3

2009-04-25T18:49:31Z

Yeah, I know... part three already?! And there's even enough photos in the storytelling folder for more than half of part four, as well. So expect that soon. This being the "Who's Your Daddy?" Challenge means I'm attempting to make one Sim woman have 26 pregnancies, by 26 different fathers. And, be warned, I wrote this in the middle of the night so it's not as razor sharp as it should be. But I have other stuff to do, dammit!

Anyway, here are the babies born so far...

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Poli-Tech (+Chase)
Baby D	by	???

When I ended part 2, Brigit was just pregnant with baby 'D'. So now it's time to introduce the father. But first, let's visit someone else who lives in the neighborhood... Julien Cooke. No, he's not the father, though I had wanted to use him at some point, which is why he was the only Sim I left in the bin when I created Blossoming Acres.

Anyone with FreeTime should recognize Julien as the oddly dressed culinary freak with the questionable facial hair. I've always liked that Julien had an altered face template which made him somewhat unique looking, and apparently he's hiding some serious hawtness behind that goatee*. So I moved him into the duplex next door to Pater the Servo (which is important) and made him into a Plantsim.

*amazing transformation of Julien Cooke into "Du Jour" by Caffie.
(omg thank you caffie for bringing this into my life) *fans self*

Julien then spawned a plant baby, named Basil. Who, to my delight, got the elf ears like I was hoping. Basil grew into an adult, Julien got cured, and Pater the Servo invited Brigit over to his apartment. This was how she met Basil...

And why he's now in her bed.

Brigit's husband, Chase, was just on his way to the carpool when she called and invited Basil over. Chase will be at work until 3 AM, so there should be plenty of time to get this done...

And... Crap, no lullaby?! No time to waste then. Take Two: *relax* *invite Basil* *try for baby*

The second time didn't take either! Ugh. I think I know what's going on... This is the first guy Brigit actually has a considerable amount of chemistry with. Three bolts! (Seriously, you should see the number of X-ed out bolts in her relationship panel.) They are dragging this out on purpose. Yes, I'm onto you two.

"Basil darling, this is a lot of fun, but, see, I'm trying to get a lullaby before... well, before 3AM."

"Oh, is that what's this is about? I can do a lullaby; you just had to ask!"

Whew, third time's the charm. And, as cute as you two are, get the hell out of bed! Chase it coming up the front walk!

Gah. This challenge is going to give me ulcers.

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That afternoon Brigit came home with a promotion and a Permanent Platinum Plumbbob! Her Lifetime Want has officially been fulfilled. Now I can ignore her want panel and concentrate on baby-making.

Around 4 o'clock the next morning she got the first Plantsim baby bump. While her husband obliviously sleeps through it on the other side of the bed. Speaking of Chase...

He and the grandfather of Brigit's unborn child do not like each other. And it has a lot to do with the fact that Chase looks through the telescope during all the wrong times of day. Poor Julien doesn't get any privacy in this neighborhood!

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But let's catch up with the other members of the household: the kids...

Clover is the youngest (and the result of Chase actually using the telescope at night a few times)...

She managed to learn all her toddler skills. And at this point I've decided to stop trying to teach them the Nursery Rhyme as well. Clover never wanted to learn it, and no one wanted to teach it to her. Plus it's a pain trying to get proof they did learn it because of the lack of a doodad and a memory for the toddler.

But anyway... the next member of the household...

Buttercup, the second born, and the offspring of Pater the Servo. She has 9 active points, so her daily routine starts with her jumping on the bed until I tell her to stop...

Then she initiates the morning Group Bathroom Smustle session.

Aster, the oldest, and Chase's (only human) child, is the 10 point neat-freak in the house. So his day always begins with him happily making all the beds (so Buttercup can bounce on them).

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Now that winter is over, Brigit has resumed gardening. She's also chatting-up Pao on the days he delivers the mail. I've got several service Sims on the baby-daddy list, but I might want Pao's "interesting" genetics before the end.

Buttercup brought home an A+ on her second day of school. From the background, Aster quietly looks on with approval. But he's about to propel himself back into the spotlight...

That evening Aster started the light show for his transition into teenhood...

Oh wow, very nice! I was afraid he'd be a face-clone of Chase, but you can see they are very different. I think the only features that are his dad's are the mouth and eye shape.

I have no idea where he got the fashion sense, though. He'll be changing, for sure. He's just not a scratchy-turtleneck kind of guy.

Aster rolled Family, and has the Lifetime Want to marry off 6 kids. o__o

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The next morning is when I noticed Chase's Aspiration meter was dangerously close to tipping into the red. Most of his immediate wants were either unattainable or just not worth diddly. So he asked Brigit on a "date", and I enabled ACR (it's not like she can get pregnant right now), then left them to their own devices...

And they managed a Dream Date all on their own. (... I might need to put curtains on the shopping list.)
Once Chase was all platinumed-up, he went upstairs to teach Clover to walk, while Brigit went outside to take care of the garden...

That's when she inhaled a large amount of insecticide.

Huzzah! After all those long hours of gardening all through college, and two seasons worth of gardening since graduating, Brigit is finally a Plantsim. Which means at some point she will be able to make her own plant baby. (because that's on The List, too!)

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But, for now, there are other kids to worry about. Clover is doing the Elvis Hip Swivel, so everyone files upstairs to witness the light show...

She grew up cute! If you squint, she looks almost like a normal kid wearing sunglasses.

You squinted, didn't you? haha

Anyway, the first thing Clover did ....

Was slide down the banister! In fact, with 10 active points and 10 playful, she has yet to actually walk down the stairs.

Every morning she and Buttercup have a Bounce-Off. I'm just glad there isn't an animation for them falling off the bed and breaking an arm. Having to cancel the bouncing after an hour, so they don't get heat stroke, is pretty much all I have to worry about. For now. (These two as teens? oh man)

Clover just can't seem to ever sit still to do something fun; like watch a movie or play chess. So after school she usually dances while Aster plays his dad's guitar.

Speaking of Aster and the guitar... Either he or Chase are always playing it. Always. All the time.

"Heeey, that's great, Dad! Just be sure to Lysol that thing before I get home from school, 'k?"

"Arrgh! I don't want to do algebra; I want to play the guitar before Dad gets it!"

But, his obsession has at least given him one scholarship for college! This also gave him enough Lifetime Aspiration points to roll a second Aspiration. He got... Romance. So his dad gave him a little talk about the birds and the bees...

"...And son, you should never go for the chest -like this- on a first date. Unless she's Romance, then it's probably okay..."

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At 5 AM the next morning, while the rest of the house slept, Brigit had Plantsim Basil's baby...

"Oh my gosh! Skintone three!"

Yeah oh my gosh! This surprised me so much, I had to rush over to Basil's house and check his DNA... Sure enough, under the plantsim skin, he's skintone 3. *loves Basil*

So, this lovely little boy has black hair from his daddy, Brigit's gray eyes, and his name is ... Okay, remember I'm naming all the kids after flowering plants and trees... and the letter D doesn't offer up many masculine flower names... Deciding "dandelion" was not gonna cut it, I went with Dogwood. (and I have got to get rid of that blush on Brigit's cheeks!)

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Anyway! That morning brings the first real rain of the season. As the older kids head out the back, through the garden, and onto the school bus...

Brigit leaves out the front. She's had enough of this and is moving to Pleasantview. Or, going on a 3 day vacation. Chase has the day off, so he's taking care of Dogwood. And Brigit can finally try to get one of those vacation pregnancies under her belt. Heh, literally.

Brigit arrived on Twikkii Island and booked the cheapest hotel room (they aren't rolling in cash yet). She has a map to the secret lot, but this trip is for another destination...

The old shipwreck. But more specifically: the captain's cabin. She'll be on the island for 3 days, because I have no idea how long it might take for her to get the ghost pirate to appear...

But she gets him the very first try!
Then of course she makes a mad dash off the ship. I sent her back to tell him a few jokes...

"A ghost walks into a pub and orders a whiskey. The barkeeper says... "

"Sorry, we don't serve spirits here!"

"Arr har har! I hears that one every day, but I ne'er hears it told by such a pretty green lass!"

That's when Pirate Captain Edward Dregg pulled out his organ, and Brigit got pregnant.

Haha, just kidding... it's actually an accordion. I decided before she could get pregnant by him (if it's possible), he had to teach her the Sea Chanty first. You have no idea how happy I was to see his name on the list of "genetic donors" when I spawned the Tombstone of L&D. The lullaby sounded, and we have a ghost pirate baby on the way! *hyperventilate*

It's still her first day on the island and it's not even dark yet, but there's no point in Brigit staying any longer.
Shortest. Vacation. Ever. But oh so productive!

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Back home, little Dogwood is being well cared for while Brigit is gone. Aster really won't leave the kid alone. He must be thrilled to finally have a little brother, because he dotes on him obsessively. He's even given up playing the guitar to care for Dogwood 24/7! I'm not sure if either Brigit or Chase have even held the baby.

And, of course, I need to point out that Clover learned to study that evening. I'm really surprised she sat still that long.

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The next morning, I decided it was time to get the Garden Club men on Brigit's relationship panel for future baby-making. Somehow she already knows Toby Bruenig, because he shows up on her panel (with negative chemistry). And Sad Old Guy made it clear he was hot for that fine young woman talking to the trees...

Can you blame him?
o__0

Anyway, to my disappointment, it turns out you can't interact with the Garden Club members while they are inspecting your garden. So that means Brigit will have to cruise the community lots to try to find Matthew Smith again. She didn't get him on her contact list, but she did get something else just then...

The first ghost-pirate-baby bump!

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It seems like there's a birthday happening every day at this point. This evening it's for Dogwood. Since Aster never puts him down, he can do the tossing...

Ohmygosh! These are the most interesting genetics yet! And what's even better...

Dogwood got his Plantsim daddy's pointy elf ears!

He's an Aquarius, with the following personality:
7 neat
6 outgoing
4 lazy
6 playful
10 nice

And, the customary shot of the toddler learning all his skills over the next few days. You might notice I also gave Dogwood some different hair after the first day.

That other hair made him look too much like a Vulcan. Now I can see more of his cute, pointy features. I love this kid! Expect way too many photos of him in the next update.

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"Excuse me, everyone, please gather around me. That's right, circle around... I have an announcement...
I'm going to grow up into the most beautiful teenager that has ever lived!"

Wow, that's pretty darn close, Buttercup.

The dice gave her Popularity (ugh, another one) and her LTW is to have 20 Best Friends.

In celebration of her daughter's birthday, Brigit set the stove on fire. Normally I'd be upset about this, but this is the first time she's seen fire, ever! Which means she finally gets to meet a fireman! Yay! Burn baby burn!

Well crap. It's Mitch Lawson. He's got the exact same face, and same coloring, as the tinkering hobby guy. Meh. Maybe we can catch something else on fire later, and get that other not-Mitch fireman to come around. If not, then Pao is definitely on the list.

Of course that fire made the stove filthy, so Aster has to clean it. He's quick, too... the firetruck hasn't even pulled away yet.

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It's the weekend, and I had to buy a playground for these two. It got to the point where Clover was going to stroke-out from jumping on the beds, and Buttercup was going to ride the exercise bike until she died. Now they have something less fatal to do with all that energy.

I also bought the family a car. Because Chase and Aster would not shut up about wanting one.

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Chase thinking: "Hah. At least it's not me this time."
Buttercup thinking: "Why won't Aster play Punch You with me? It's not like he's doing anything else right now."
Aster thinking: "Another baby?! I'll never get to play guitar again!"

So what does a ghost pirate's baby look like?

Well, since I took way too many pictures already, that has to wait until the next update... In which there will be more exciting toddler-skill photos, at least one immaculate conception, a visit from the Headmaster, and probably some other stuff! Stay tuned.

Baby-and-Daddy Tally so far:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Poli-Tech (+Chase)
Dogwood	by	Plantsim, Basil Cooke
Baby 'E'	by	Ghost, Pirate Captain Edward Dregg

Hmm. It occurs to me I need to start making more babies, and spend less time taking photos. Or I'll be at this until Sims4 comes out.

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"Hey, grandma, good job up there."

Uh, thanks, Buttercup. Don't call me grandma.

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The madness continues. Who's Your Daddy? part 2

2009-04-22T17:27:27Z

Already I have part two of this ridiculously insane challenge documented! The momentum is picking up, and things should start moving along fairly quickly after this...

So, when we last left Brigit, she had just given birth to her first child, a son named Aster.

Brigit is also working her way through the law career to become THE Law in order to fulfill her Lifetime Want. Of course that's besides being scheduled to deliver 26+ babies during her lifetime...

Brigit's husband, and Aster's father, is Chase. He's making his way up through the music industry to become a Rock God. But promotions can wait. One baby is born and we're on a tight schedule, so Brigit needs to get pregnant again right away...

So while Chase was as work, Brigit invites over Pater, the Servo she built in college. Because Chase doesn't get to father any more children with Brigit. Though he will be around to raise all the little bast- er, blessings that she is going to produce on the sly.

Pater is scheduled to be baby-daddy number 2. I... can't pretend this doesn't weird me out a little! And I think if I had to build a robot for "that" purpose, I might have given him some... better... hardware?

*eye twitch* Anyway... as the fireworks were going off (okay, I might include those if I have to build one) I snuck into the attic and clicked on the ol' Tombstone of L&D that's stashed up there. The lullaby sounded, and I now have my very first Servo-impregnated Sim. o__o I.. I'm okay with that.

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But that's behind us now! Later that evening it's time to make Aster a toddler. Let's see what Brigit and Face-Two-Chase can make...

Cute. Adorable.
Aster is an Aries. His personality:
10 neat
10 outgoing
5 active
5 playful
3 mean

I look forward to made beds and clean toilets!

So far, Chase and Brigit's work schedules have made life really easy for me. His days off are usually during her days on, and vice versa. However, Chase has more to do at home than help the toddlers learn their skills....

"Hey, Babe. Since I need the Aspiration boost, so I can use the Energizer and stargaze all night... here's a half-eaten platter of lunch meat sandwiches."

"Oh Chase! That's so sweet!"

Chase frequently has the Want to give Brigit a present, which is sweet... and convenient. He's not slept at night since moving in, because I have him outside stargazing in the hopes of getting a green nooboo for those bonus points. And being one less pregnancy Brigit actually has to endure.

Over the next couple of days, between the two of them, Brigit and Chase managed to teach Aster all of his toddler skills...

Including the Nursery Rhyme. Which for some reason does not show up as a memory for the toddler, but it does for the parent. What the heck is that about?

Oh... heh, ignore that I forgot to put a roof over the bathroom. And marvel at the crib cubbies! That way the baby and toddler don't wake each other up.

Just in case you wondered what Aster looked like when he wasn't glowing. I guess the eye shape, and the mouth (and possibly everything else) are inherited from Chase, but I'm pretty sure that's Brigit's nose.

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"Babe, you're pregnant?! But how is that possible?! I mean I know how it happens, I just don't understand how you could be pregnant now. I've been at the telescope every night and at work every day! I think I'd remember if we had done anything to get you pregnant recently!"

"Gawd Chase! SHUT UP!"

"Oh look! She's not metal!"

Baby girl B, fathered by Pater the Servo, is named Buttercup.
She's got skin 2, red hair, and gray eyes. Just like her mom. Just like her brother. So far this "genetic experiment" has been a little unimpressive.

Later that night a few things happened... First, Aster grew up into a kid. Still cute. Maybe even more so. Then right around midnight...

Chase got abducted! I was using the "Search for UFOs" option, to hopefully speed up the process. Knowing that it doesn't result in a pregnancy most of the time....

But Chase came home with a lullaby! And a penguin. o_0   But more importantly, there's an alien in his belly!

*SOB* "Oh, Buttercup, I don't know if I can live with the memory of what those monsters did to me!"

"Does Not-Daddy want to put his head in the oven?"

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Gosh dang, Chase! *blink*   Cripes. Um... oh right, birthday...

SO, that evening it's time to make Buttercup a toddler. Let's see what Brigit and a Servo make...

O_O

Okaaay... Um, Buttercup is a Gemini....
6 neat
8 outgoing
9 active
6 playful
5 nice

*rubs eyes*

Over the next few days, the Pink Princess Buttercup learned her toddler skills....

And the Nursery Rhyme. Which she got Aspiration points for, and Brigit got the memory.

Out of curiosity, I went to Pater the Servo's house and ran a SimDNA on him. It turns out he has red hair, or at least carries that gene. Which would explain why Buttercup got red hair. I thought this might be because Brigit was the one who activated him, but then I remembered another Servo I ran a SimDNA on. That Servo has the same hair color as the person who built her, and not the one who activated her. Of course Brigit built Pater. She also activated him. Then again, the Servo's hair and skin traits might be totally random and this is just a coincidence! ._.

Oh look, Buttercup's cute.

For having only 3 nice points, Aster is really a sweetie. Every time I see Buttercup's face pop up in his queue, I always expect it to be "Tease" or "Torment". But no, he autonomously plays with and talks to his little sister.

Aster always drops what he's doing and rushes out to greet his parents when they come home from work.

Aaand he learned to study. In fact I think Chase had rolled up the want to teach him. Aster and his dad are really very close...

Every day after school, Aster asks Chase to read him a book. He's... wait... uh, Chase? That's a cookbook.

Poor guy must be having cravings. o__o But he read the whole cookbook to Aster, and Aster loved it. Maybe we have a future Celebrity Chef in the works?

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"Omigaw, Chase, I heard bein' married makes you fat. But I swear you are pregnant!"

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Brandi. I've just packed on a few pounds from all that eggplant juice."

"Nooooo! Brandi was right!"

"Well, I'll be."

"UGH! Dad, please tell me you didn't just gave birth! Great, now I need therapy!"

"You see, Chase? Unexplainable spontaneous pregnancies happen all the time!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Babe. I'll never question your gestational state again."

Chase's spontaneous pregnancy has given us a black-eyed baby girl, named Clover. She has... well, she's green.

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The next day Chase returns to work. And returns home with his mother-in-law in tow. Since Fuzzy's here, it must mean something is about to happen...

Like a birthday!

"Brigit, sweetie? Why is my granddaughter's hair pink?"

"I don't know, Mom. Why is your hair purple?"

The next day is Monday, and Buttercup's first day of school. She kinda reminds me of a pink Peep. Cute, sweet, sproingy, and doesn't feel the need to conform and fit in with those yellow Peeps.

Despite the skintone (and the hair color), I think Buttercup looks more like Chase than Chase's son does. I'm guessing Servos have default face two features.

With three days left before he turns teen, Aster brings home his first A+.

You know what's hard? Captioning these kinds of photos. I mean, we all know that's the A+ fist-pump. Really, I could just as easily have left this one blank, and we would still be able to grasp what has happened. It's not really funny though. I guess I could have captioned it with something like, "Alright! No cavities!" or "YES! I got my grades to spell out BADASS!"

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Anyway... Back to the mundane. Later that evening, it's time to toddler'fy Clover. *biting nails*

Hey, not too bad!   (gah, I've got to buy these people some lights)

Clover is a Sagittarius.
1 sloppy
10 outgoing
10 active
10 playful
4 mean

My gosh! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with this kid!

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Well, things seem to be moving along quite smoothly. The older kids are doing exceptionally well. Both Chase and Brigit have only a handful of promotions until they top their careers. The toddler is fed and napping peacefully in her crib. They are well adjusted enough to be able to have a leisurely breakfast together...

So what the hell is wrong with this picture?

Oh yes, of course... I spot an empty womb.

That's better.

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So, until next time...
The baby-and-daddy-tally so far is:

Aster	by	Husband, Chase
Buttercup	by	Pater the Servo
Clover	by	Poli-Tech (+Chase)
Baby D	by	???

By the way, so you guys don't think I'm crazy, in some schools it is possible to make your grades spell out BADASS. S stands for Satisfactory, and falls between Excellent and Needs improvement. These are sometimes used for subjects that don't have tests, or for overall school performance.

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YOU caption it.

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